YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP):

Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata (7) eludes Russia's Sergei Semak during their Group H match at the World Cup Finals in Yokohama yesterday. Japan beat Russia 1-0. - Reuters

JUNICHI Inamoto couldn't have come up with a better time or place to raise the level of his game.

Inamoto scored his second goal of the tournament yesterday as Japan defeated Russia 1-0 at International Stadium Yokohama to earn their first World Cup finals victory and move close to advancing to the second round.

The co-hosts need only a draw in their final first-round game against Tunisia on Friday to reach the Round of 16. In their World Cup debut in 1998, they lost all three games.

Atsushi Yanagisawa made a perfect one-touch pass from midfield to Inamoto near the front of the goal in the 51st minute. The Arsenal midfielder then chipped a shot over the head of Russian goaltender Ruslan Nigmatullin.

"Sure, I'm happy to score again," said Inamoto. "But team results are more important than individual ones and we still need to qualify for the second round."

Inamoto scored Japan's second goal in their 2-2 draw with Belgium in Saitama last Tuesday. He scored another goal late in that match but it was ruled offside.

Japan now have four points from their two Group H matches while Russia have three. Belgium are third with one point and Tunisia are last with zero, each from one match. Belgium play Tunisia today in Oita, and then Russia on Friday.

Inamoto has been Japan's most impressive player thus far and said his experience in England's Premier League has given him the confidence to play at a higher level.

"It really helped me with my confidence even though I didn't get in many games," said Inamoto. "Just being able to practice with so many great players helped me raise the level of my game."

Once again, the fans were a big factor for Japan. A near-capacity crowd of 66,108 erupted when Inamoto scored his goal and stayed on their feet for the rest of the match.

"The crowd really pumped us up," said Inamoto. "It's a privilege to play in front of such a crowd and they give us a lot of confidence."

Hidetoshi Nakata had another solid game for Japan. The Parma playmaker nearly made it 2-0 in the 71st, blasting a shot from way out that sailed over the reach of the jumping 'keeper but smashed off the crossbar.

"This victory is not about who scored or who played well," said Nakata. "Everyone pitched in including the guys on the bench."

Russia, which beat Tunisia 2-0 in their opening match, had an excellent chance to equalise in the 58th minute, but Vladimir Beschastnykh -- who came on as a substitute a minute earlier -- sent his close-range shot at an open goal into the side netting.

"The individual skills are the problem. We have to score when we have the opportunities like we had," Russian assistant coach Mikhail Gershkovich said.

Valery Karpin tried to give his team the lead in the 47th, but his rolling cross from deep in the area went across the goalmouth untouched and out of danger.

Dmitri Sychev had three late chances, but Japan goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki made three easy saves.

Japan attacked relentlessly for most of the match while playing solid defence to keep the Russians frustrated.

"I'm very proud of being head coach of this team," said Japan coach Philippe Troussier. "Obviously this is a very big moment for Japan, for Japanese soccer and for the Japanese nation."

Russia's best first-half chance came in the 40th minute as one of the Europeans' few attacks made it into the Japanese area. Andrei Solomatin ran a ball deep into Japanese territory and left it back for Igor Semshov, who was brought down by Kazuyuki Toda before reaching the ball.

In the 32nd, Egor Titov rolled a nice ball into the area for Ruslan Pimenov, but Narazaki got there first. Earlier, Yuri Nikiforov blasted a free kick wide in the 17th.

"In the first half we didn't do that well, we didn't control the game, but after the break we had some chances but the Japanese had more luck," Gershkovich said.

The Japanese team was cheered on by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Lineups: JAPAN: 12-Seigo Narazaki, 3-Naoki Matsuda, 5-Junichi Inamoto (15-Takashi Fukunishi, 85), 7-Hidetoshi Nakata, 11-Takayuki Suzuki (10-Masashi Nakayama, 72), 13-Atsushi Yanagisawa, 16-Koji Nakata, 17-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (c), 18-Shinji Ono (6-Toshihiro Hattori, 76), 20-Tomokazu Myojin, 21-Kazuyuki Toda.

RUSSIA: 1-Ruslan Nigmatullin, 2-Yuri Kovtun, 3-Yuri Nikiforov, 4-Alexei Smertin (11-Vladimir Beschastnykh, 57), 5-Andrei Solomatin, 6-Igor Semshov, 7-Viktor Onopko (c), 8-Valery Karpin, 9-Egor Titov, 19-Ruslan Pimenov (22-Dmitri Sychev, 46), 20-Marat Izmailov (21-Dmitry Khokhlov, 52).

Referee: Markus Merk (Germany).