Japan replaced the entire line-up of fatigued players from their opening Korea DPR match. Today's members demonstrated a high level of football, creating numerous opportunities at the onset of the match. In the 9th minute, Tatsuya Tanaka raced up the right, delivering an excellent cross to Maki, who rushed to the front of the goal. In the 12th minute, Komano sent a low cross pass from the right to Konno, who headed the ball that was caught by the falling goalkeeper right on the goal line.

Japan seemed to have the upper hand, but 10 out of the 11 China PR players were over 180cm tall and they used their height advantage to launch aerial offensives. In the 37th minute, Zhao Xuri delivered a low cross to Li Jinyu, who dived for the ball head first to score the first goal for China PR. Shortly after, in the 43rd minute, China PR gained a free kick on the left side, and Zhang Yonghai backheaded the ball into the goal to give China PR a two-goal lead over Japan in the first half.

In the second half, China PR gained a corner kick in the 46th and 54th minutes, and the towering Xu Yunlong threatened Japan's goal with a powerful header, failing to add a goal for China PR. China PR head coach Zhu Guang Hu's half time instructions to the team, "Watch out for fouls. Japan's weapon is their set play," turned out to be right. In the 59th minute, Abe's piercing free kick was blocked by the Chinese goalie, and Moniwa played the loose ball with his head into the open goal to score Japan's first goal.

In the 66th minute Oguro and Tamada went in for Japan, and in the 74th minute Santos followed, and the reinvigorated Japan delivered an equalizer in the 87th minute. Tatsuya Tanaka first tried to deliver a through pass in front of the goal, but the ball hit a Chinese defender. He then went for the loose ball and rammed it with his left foot toward the goal. The mid-range shot was driven straight into the upper right corner of the goal.

China PR and Japan finished with a 2-2 draw, gaining 1 point each.

Japan's head coach Zico commented in the post-match interview: "The players never let up till the end. I would like to applaud them for creating many opportunities." China PR's head coach Zhu Guang Hu reflected, "Our defense is improving, but we must work on our offensive play after stealing the ball and our game structure when we're leading."