Japan 2 Scotland 0 Japan 2 Scotland 0

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A much-changed but spirited Scotland side went down 2-0 to Japan in Yokohama on Sunday.Scotland manager George Burley made a number of changes for the Far East friendly after ten players withdrew from the squad  prompting anger from their opponents  but took a number of positives away from the defeat, sealed by two late strikes in front of 72,377 fans at Yokohamas International Stadium.Four players were handed international debuts by Burley after the spate of late withdrawls, with Stephen McManus handed the captains armband, and they were on the back foot almost instantly when the home side had two good opportunities within the first ten minutes of the game.Captain: Celtics Stephen McManusFirst, right-back Atsuto Uchida threatened the Scottish defence with a dangerous cro s after finding himself in acres of space, forcing Steven Whittaker to head behind after just three minutes, and Keisuke Honda hit a speculative 35-yard effort just three minutes later which barely troubled Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon.Japans superior movement and range of pa sing continued to trouble Scotland, but it wasnt until ten minutes before half-time that they had their best opportunity of the first half.Shunsuke Nakamura, well known to Scottish supporters from his time at Celtic, could only hit the side netting of Gordons goal after he was played through by Honda.Chance: Ex-Celtic man NakamuraBurley introduced two fresh faces at half time, sending on Don Cowie and Steven Fletcher at the expense of Kenny Miller and Ro s Wallace, and the changes gave the visitors fresh impetus as they began to establish a foothold in Jordan Stout Jersey  the game. Japan struggled to exert their authority as they had in the first half, but were boosted ten minutes into the second half when Takayuki Morimoto was handed a long-awaited senior debut as a substitute.Morimoto, who plays for Calcio Catania in Serie A, once attracted the attention of Manchester United and has been described by AC Milan and Brazil striker Alexandre Pato as the best young player in Serie A, and has also drawn comparisons with Brazilian legend Ronaldo.At times Craig Gordons goal led a charmed life, and the Sunderland goalkeeper was a relieved man just after the hour mark when he parried a free-kick from Honda, only to see Uchida hit the follow up wide of his goal. With 17 minutes left it was Gordons opposite number Eiji Kawashima who was the hero, saving well with his legs after being left one-on-one with Burnley striker Fletcher.Japan finally made their dominance pay on 83 minutes, going ahead through an own-goal from the otherwise-excellent Christophe Berra. The Wolves defender cut out a dangerous cro s, but could only divert the ball past Gordon and into his own goal.Own goal: Christophe BerraJapan then sealed the victory through Honda, who tucked the ball past Gordon with aplomb after the ball fell to him inside the penalty area.Japan: Kawashima, Iwamasa, Uchida, Abe, Hashimoto, Inamoto, Konno, Kengo Nakamura, Ishikawa, Honda, Maeda.Subs: Yamamoto, Komano, Tanaka, Endo, Matsui, Shunsuke Nakamura, Sato, Okubo, Tokunaga, Iwashita, Morimoto.Scotland: Gordon, Berra, Caldwell, McManus, Whittaker, Lee Wallace, Adam, Dorrans, Ro s Wallace, Conway, Miller.Subs: Marshall, Hughes, Fletcher, Barr, Riordan, Cowie, Langfield.Referee: Sang Woo Kim (Korea Republic)  Desean Jackson Jersey