A fortunate Yoshinori Muto strike saw Japan record a 1-1 draw with Iran after Mehdi Torabi had opened the scoring in Tuesday's friendly in Tehran.
The hosts were unfortunate not to open the scoring in the 34th minute when Sardar Azmoun cleared his own team-mate Ehsan Hajsafi's attempt off the goal line, but they grabbed the lead just before the interval when Torabi was alert after Ashkan Dejagah missed a penalty.
Vahid Halilhodzic's men bounced back after the break, though, and Muto levelled the scoring in fortunate circumstances in the 47th minute.
The draw maintains Japan's almost two-year unbeaten run away from home and provides momentum heading into November's World Cup qualifiers on the road against Singapore and Cambodia.
Sloppy play in the Japanese defence should have been punished in the 34th minute, but Hajsafi's goal-bound effort was blocked by his own team-mate, Azmoun.
Iran eventually went a goal up in the dying seconds of the first half. Maya Yoshida fouled Torabi inside the area, leaving the referee no choice but to point to the spot and the Saipa winger was on hand to convert after Dejagah's effort was saved by Shusaku Nishikawa.
And that miss was punished barely a minute later as Iran goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi made a mess of a Honda cross from the right and the ball crawled over the goal line via Muto's back.
