Takeshi Okada believes that Japan's progress into the second round of the World Cup was down to winning their opening match of the competition against Cameroon.

Keisuke Honda was the hero on that day, netting the only goal in Bloemfontein, to help the Blue Samurai to a narrow win. They lost their second match against Holland to lose by the same scoreline and, needing only a draw against Denmark in Rustenburg on Thursday night, they produced a strong display to come out 3-1 victors.

"Every victory in the World Cup can never be forgotten," Okada said. "For me, the opening match against Cameroon was very important. If we had not won that match, then everything else would not have been possible."