Japan’s World Cup Starts With Big Win Over Colombia www.nytimes.com

Japan wore down a Colombian team reduced to 10 men and won, 2-1, on Tuesday in Saransk.

The game started terribly for Colombia, which had lined up without its star, James Rodriguez, who is nursing a leg injury.

Shinji Osako raced past the Colombian defense in the 6th minute and was in alone on goal. David Ospina made the save, but it rebounded to Kagawa who was following the play. His own shot was blocked, but Carlos Sanchez of Colombia used his hand to do so.

That meant a penalty, and a red card for Sanchez. Colombia played the remaining 84 minutes down a man. And Kagawa converted the penalty to put Japan on top.