Honda frustrated by Japan's lack of ideas

Japan were held to a stalemate by a resilient Greek team in Natal on Thursday, even though Fernando Santos' side were reduced to 10 men before half-time after captain Kostas Katsouranis was sent off.

Alberto Zaccheroni's men were desperate for a victory after giving up a 1-0 lead to lose their opening fixture 2-1 to Ivory Coast, but were left frustrated ahead of their final Group C fixture against pool leaders Colombia.

Shinji Kagawa entered the fray just before the hour mark as Zaccheroni attempted to add some more guile to their frontline, but the Manchester United man did not make a huge difference and Honda was left despondent with Japan's attacking efforts.

"We lack ideas," he said. "We tried to attack but we just can't put the ball in the back of the net.

"Greece were very hard to break down. We have to be more aggressive against Colombia.

"We must somehow find a way to score goals and come away with three points.

"To be honest, it's extremely difficult just throwing in crosses and trying to beat these physical defenders to the ball and score.

"We needed to find a different way to goal but we were lacking the ideas to do it. I'm so gutted."

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