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Men's championship

Japan faced an unfriendly Chinese crowd in drawing 1-1 with North Korea on the opening day of the East Asian Football Championship on Sunday.\nJapan, Asia's No. 1 team, came under constant attack from Jong Tae-se, a Japan-born ethnic North Korean who plays for J-League Kawasaki Frontale.\nHe opened the scoring in the sixth minute and was a constant threat. But Ryoichi Maeda equalized in the 69th minute and saved Japan from a repeat of the nightmare in which they lost to North Korea 1-0 in the opener of the 2005 East Asian Cup.\nTakeshi Okada, who began his second stint as Japan's national coach in November after his predecessor Bosnian Ivica Bosim suffered a stroke, said his squad lacked experience.\nHe missed Celtic playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura as well as three top domestic strikers, including former Frankfurt frontman Naohiro Takahara, who were injured or in poor form.\n\252It was a difficult match but our players came back to take risks and make chances,\272 he said.
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