GEORGE: Exactly a month ago, a majority of Japanese wrote off their team’s chances of reaching the World Cup second round following a dismal 2-0 home defeat to old rivals South Korea in a send-off friendly.

But they have proved everyone wrong with rising CSKA Moscow star Keisuke Honda leading the way after four straight warm-up defeats.
He drove home a free kick and played a part in two more goals as Japan stunned Denmark 3-1 to secure a last-16 spot on Thursday.
Japan will now face Paraguay in Pretoria on Tuesday with the prize being a first ever World Cup quarterfinal appearance.
Japanese newspapers handed out special editions in the streets on Friday morning as soon as the match ended in Rustenburg with Honda’s pictures everywhere.
“It’s strange but I don’t feel that happy,” he told Japanese media after the win which sent the Blue Samurai to the World Cup knockout stage for the first time on foreign soil. “It’s probably because there’s always someone better out there.”
Reputed to be “a big mouth,” Honda vowed last month that Japan could go all the way in South Africa.
“If I can get the mental side right, we can put up a great fight against Paraguay.”
Honda, who helped CSKA reach the Champions League quarterfinals by scoring against Sevilla after moving from VVV Venlo in January, hit the winner in the
1-0 upset of Cameroon in their World Cup opener.
Having turned 24 on the eve of the Cameroon game, Honda has played as a lone frontman, away from his usual midfield position, to boost Japan’s feeble firepower. Japan went down 1-0 to the Netherlands.
After scoring the opener against Denmark with a superb free kick in the 17th minute, he let senior midfielder Yasuhito Endo take another free kick on the half-hour mark. Endo did his job perfectly.
“If I hadn’t scored one myself, I would have fought with him,” Honda said.
Minutes after Jon Dahl Tomasson pulled one back for Denmark, Honda fed a short cross to substitute striker Shinji Okazaki dashing toward the net in the 87th minute when he could have scored his second goal.
“He (Honda) told me before the match, ‘I will score a goal and you have to score another after you are sent in,’ ” said Okazaki.
Coach Takeshi Okada said it was teamwork that had pulled Japan through.
“We showed that football is a team sport,” said the bespectacled 53-year-old, who has said he will retire from football after South Africa 2010.
“We are not at the end of the line yet. Paraguay are quite strong opponents. We have got another mountain to climb.”