NIIGATA, Japan (CMC):

Jamaican's Reggae Boyz suffered their third straight defeat in as many games when they went down 1-0 to Japan in a friendly international yesterday. A first-half Nyron Nosworthy own goal proved Jamaica's undoing and they could have lost by a wider margin were it not for the poor finishing from the Japanese.

The Reggae Boyz spent most of the contest at the Big Swan Stadium defending as Japan completely dominated the encounter.

The Caribbean side, preparing for next month's CFU Caribbean Cup Finals in which they play hosts, have now failed to win in six outings against extraregional competition.

Only last month, they went down 3-1 to Canada at BMO Field in Toronto. Previously, they lost 8-0 to France back in June.

Jamaica were on the backfoot from the outset of Friday's contest and there was no surprise when Japan took the lead, albeit under fortuitous circumstances.

Shinji Kagawa, the former Manchester United forward, collected the ball down the left side and fed Keisuke Honda in the middle. Honda in turn played through Gaku Shibasaki on the right, whose shot was palmed away by goalkeeper Ryan Thompson.

However, the ball ricocheted off the advancing Nosworthy and into the net to give Japan the lead.

In the 33rd minute, Japan wasted a glorious opportunity to double their lead. Gotoku Sakai intercepted a loose pass from a Jamaican defender just outside the 18-yard box, passed to Honda, whose chip clipped the crossbar with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Honda had earlier seen his free kick saved by a diving Thompson.

Kagawa was also guilty of wastefulness, twice shooting wide with the goal at his mercy.