The pair, who both received a bye in the opening two rounds of Asian qualifying after reaching last year’s World Cup finals, were both rusty in their first competitive match since contesting the Asian Cup final in January.
Japanese defender Maya Yoshida was the Asian champions’ match-winner as his 94th minute header broke the resilience of the defensive-minded North Koreans in the battle of 2010 finalists at the Saitama Stadium.
“The players battled until the end against a great wall North Korea put in front of us. They deserve credit for the way they kept hammering away. Our patience paid off,” Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who has yet to taste defeat in charge of the Blue Samurai, said in a pitchside interview after the 1-0 win.
Japan, without the creativity of injured attacking midfielder Keisuke Honda, were heading for a disappointing draw against the 114th FIFA ranked visitors, who had Pak Kwang-ryong sent off with seven minutes to go, before Yoshida converted Hiroshi Kiyotake’s cross.
In Brisbane, Australian striker Alex Brosque came off the bench to fire the winner in the 86th minute that sent the Socceroos to a 2-1 victory and deny Thailand an unlikely point.
“It feels like a loss, but the positive is we got the three points,” Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer told reporters.
“There’s no excuses. We were all over the place and we didn’t have any real shape.”
The matches were two of 10 qualifiers taking place across five groups in the region on Friday as the 20 sides battle it out for the four guaranteed places in Brazil with a fifth possible via a playoff.
The group winners and runners-up from the third round will advance to the fourth round where the 10 teams will be split into two groups with the top two sides from each advancing to Brazil.
South Korea, also beginning their campaign at the third round stage, enjoyed an easy night at the Goyang Stadium as they thrashed lowly Lebanon 6-0
New Arsenal striker and Korean captain Park Chu-young helped himself to a hat-trick against the lowest ranked Asian side remaining in the qualifiers, with Sunderland forward Ji Dong-won netting twice.
Former Spain boss Jose Antonio Camacho was struggling on his debut as China coach as they trailed Singapore 1-0 at halftime at the high altitude venue in Kunming.
