Colombia qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time in 24 years after Japan and 10-man Greece played out a dire 0-0 draw in Natal on Thursday.
Japan failed to take advantage of the Greeks being reduced to 10 men from the 38th minute when captain Kostas Katsouranis was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Both sides picked up their first point and can still qualify from Group C, although they must win their final matches to do so.
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Greece play Ivory Coast, who are on three points, in their final match while Japan tackle Colombia, who have a perfect six points.
Japan winger Shinji Kagawa's terrible year continued as after a miserable season with Manchester United Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni dropped him to the bench after a poor showing against Ivory Coast.
Japan controlled affairs in the first-half thanks to the surging runs of left-back Yuto Nagatomo and the tight, short passing of a potent midfield being marshalled superbly by Keisuke Honda.
Greece's chances of taking something from the game lessened dramatically during a disastrous five minutes in the first-half.
First leading striker Kostas Mitroglou's injury nightmare, which saw him barely play a game for Fulham after a multi-million pound move in January, continued as he hobbled off in the 35th minute.
Three minutes later he was followed by his Katsouranis, though for a less commendable reason as he was sent for an early shower after being booked for a second time in the game.
Greece coach Fernando Santos reacted to Katsouranis's red card by turning to the experience of substitute Georgios Karagounis, Greece's most capped player of all time, and sacrificing Genoa midfielder Ioannis Fetfatzidis.
Greece, though, have shown that they are never more dangerous than when their backs are against the wall and soon after they produced their best chance of the half, Vasilis Torosidis stinging the palms of Eiji Kawashima with a fierce drive from the right of the area.
Zaccheroni eventually sent on Kagawa on 57 minutes as Greece appeared to be comfortably holding their opponents.
Greece, however, again came closest to breaking the deadlock as Kawashima did brilliantly to get down and turn away for a corner a header from Theofanis Gekas.
Japan found their rhythm again and carved out a fine opportunity when Kagawa sighted Atsuto Uchida ghosting in deep on the right, but after the defender's delivery across goal Yoshito Okubo could only splice wide from a tight angle.
A Nagatomo delivery then caused confusion in the Greek box, but Uchida spurned another chance with a sliding effort that was just off target.
A speculative 30-metre drive from Okubo forced Orestis Karnezis to parry on 77 minutes and Japan's final chance fell to Yasuhito Endo in the 90th minute when a free kick was awarded on the edge of the area, but the midfielder's curling effort was parried to safety by Karnezis at his far post.
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Read more from Johann Chacko
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
More from our neighbourhood series:
RESULT
Bayern Munich 3 Chelsea 2
Bayern: Rafinha (6'), Muller (12', 27')
Chelsea: Alonso (45' 3), Batshuayi (85')
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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