The first half had seen the highly-fancied Lions look complacent as they sought the draw that would have ensured their progress.
In a game of very few genuine goal-scoring opportunities, the first half had almost expired before there was any real goal-mouth action.
He shot over the bar after substitute Ameobi, on for Carroll who had suffered a knock in the first half, had won a free-kick on the edge of the box.
Leinster really did not get into their stride in the first half and had to rely on the boot of St Mary's fly-half Sexton for their interval advantage.
Carmelo Anthony, whose recent struggles from the field continued through the first half, had been 7-for-18 before the timeout.
Late in the first half Glentoran had Jonny Taylor sent-off but McCafferty's resultant penalty was saved.
The first half still had one further moment of magic though and it was the visitors who provided it, with a little help from the home side.
And by the end of the first half Japan had relative control, with towering Brazilian-born defender Tulio heading just wide before Matsui lashed a decent volley straight at goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.
Viduka castigated Downing for not delivering his cross more quickly, but when the England international picked up on the ball on the left at the end of the first half he had clearly learned his lesson.
BBC: SPORT | Football | Premiership | Man Utd 1-1 Middlesbrough
The company said rainfall across the UK in the first half of the year had been at its lowest level for since 1964.
On a sunny day in Hobart, in contrast to the showery, chilly conditions that had greeted the players for the first half of the match, Bell continued where he had left off on Thursday with some sparkling strokeplay.
We started the second half far better than we did at any time in the first half when Celtic had 11 men on the pitch.
Kelleher was denied on the line by a timely Martyn Williams tackle after the visitors' best period of attack midway through the first half, but the Blues had no such opportunity.
The goal Mexico deserved for their enterprise came in first-half injury time - and was a perfect illustration of the defensive disorganisation that had plagued England in the first half.
"On Saturday, we had two players (Louis Dodds and Anthony Griffith) booked in the first half and the manager said that we had to take them off before they got sent off, " said Grew.
Germany controlled the first half but only had a Philipp Lahm goal to show for their efforts.
It also said it expects to make a smaller loss in the first half than it had previously forecast.
In the first half, they had a lot of possession but I think the only chance they created led to their goal.
The second half was much more open than the first half and both sides had chances but I think it was a fair result.
The All Blacks dominated the first half but only had Luke McAlister's try to show for it, with Lionel Beauxis's penalty being France's lone score.
Picking up the theme Melvyn (Lord) Bragg spelt out why the party's traditions in the working class socialist movement of the first half of the last century still had resonance.
"We knew it was going to be a very delicate, very difficult game, but we weren't able to maintain the rhythm we had in the first half in the second half, " reflected Dunga.
"We would have liked to have got more points from the pressure and the possession we had in the first half, but were very patient and the points began to rack up, " he added.
"They have an amazing team who keep the ball very well but in the first half, we had some amazing chances and if we had put one of them away it could have been different, " Beckham told ITV television after the match.
The teenager's sureness of touch was a delight to witness although he would have been left screaming at himself for failing to beat visiting keeper Cech from 15 yards midway in the first half after Fellaini had done well to win possession from Michael Essien.
"Strangely enough, the two incidents, the goal that we had in the first half and the Scott Brown sending off, I was making my way from my seat in the stand downstairs and missed both of them so I really can't comment on what happened, " Smith said.
Elliot, who had a profitable spell on loan at Livingston during the first half of the season - scoring 11 times, had earlier passed up a number of opportunities to claim his hat-trick.
The home side had chances in the first half but efforts from Paul Brown and Kevin Ramsey failed to hit the target.
Los Angeles answered with a 15-3 run to go up 92-79, equaling the 13-point lead it had in the first half.
They chose not to run the ball out of defence in the first half-hour and only had one Beauxis penalty on the board at the break.
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