May 31, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18,1423

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SHIMIZU (Japan), May 30: Russia boosted their World Cup preparations with a comfortable 3-0 victory over an under-strength Shimizu S-Pulse side on Thursday.

But there was some worrying injury news for Russian coach Oleg Romantsev as he fine-tuned his squad for their opening group H game against Tunisia on Wednesday.

Injured playmaker Alexander Mostovoi was not even named among the substitutes and doubts persist over the likelihood of the experienced Celta Vigo midfielder, who has a hamstring injury, being fit to face the Tunisians.

Romantsev’s side looked sluggish and vulnerable in defence before eventually outclassing their J-League opponents in front of a noisy 20,000 sell-out crowd.

Young forward Ruslan Pimenov enhanced his claims for a World Cup starting place with his first goal in a Russia shirt, heading in the opening goal after 10 minutes.

First-choice striker Vladimir Beschastnykh, in contrast, looked short of pace and confidence and was replaced at halftime.

Goals by central midfielder Yegor Titov and Dmitry Khokhlov after 73 and 77 minutes sealed victory, while other plus points for Romantsev were the lively displays of teenager Marat Izmailov and Valery Karpin in midfield.

Defensive midfielder Alexei Smertin, who has a minor rib problem, also played no part in Thursday’s match but is expected to be fit for the Tunisia game.

Japan win: Defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto became the latest injury concern for Japan as the World Cup co-hosts beat a local university side 3-1 in a warm-up for the finals Thursday.

The Gamba Osaka player hurt his nose in a collision with an opposing forward in the 70-minute match played behind closed doors at Iwata Stadium and was taken to a local hospital as a “precautionary measure”, according to team officials.

Strikers Akinori Nishizawa and Masashi Nakayama scored first-half goals and Arsenal midfielder Junichi Inamoto was on target after the break. Japan play Belgium in Saitama on Tuesday.

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