Maksim Shatskikh gave the visitors the lead against the run of play in the 27th minute and although Keiji Tamada grabbed the equaliser five minutes before half-time, the central Asians hung on for the draw thanks to superb defensive and excellent goalkeeping by Ignatiy Nesterov.

Japan had the better of the first half-hour but created few opportunities against the disciplined Uzbek defence whose only real scare came in the 23rd minute when referee Ali Hamad Al Badwawi waved off appeals for a penalty after Yoshito Okubo appeared to be tugged down by Vitaliy Denisov.

Instead it was the visitors who took the lead against the run of play in the 28th minute after Marcus Tulio Tanaka attempted to make a clearance in midfield with an unnecessary bicycle kick but ballooned the ball into the air towards Ildar Magdeev.

Magdeev nodded it forward for Timur Kapadze who beat Tulio for pace down the right before sending in a low cross for Shatskikh, who slid home in the six-yard box to put the ball past Seigo Narazaki.

Rather than deflating the home side, the goal sparked their attack to life.

Yasuhito Endo had a shot from the edge of box deflected wide and Nesterov was called into action to punch away a dangerous Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick as Okubo came charging in.

The Japanese should have equalised in the 38th minute when Atsuto Uchida played an excellent one-two with Nakamura before squaring the ball across the face of goal where Kagawa slid in just too late to apply the finishing touch.

But the equaliser would arrive two minutes later when a deep cross from the left by Nakamura was met at the far post by Okubo, who centred for Tamada to stab the ball past Nesterov from point blank range.

The Uzbeks regained their defensive poise after the break, frustrating the home side’s attempts to take the lead.

Tamada volleyed a Uchida cross wide seven minutes after the break but there were few real threats on goal by the Japanese for much of the half.

Nesterov made a brilliant save to turn aside a Tamada shot in the 70th minute and the Nagoya Grampus forward was denied again a minute later when he found himself in space on the left of the Uzbek box only to see his shot deflected over after a heroic challenge by Aliqulov.

With just a minute remaining, the Uzbek keeper made another superb save to turn aside a Tulio header, giving Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov a point in his first competitive match in charge.