'Scotland's Hampden warriors return to reserved selves'
Scotland had a Scott McTominay chance, another after a driving run and shot from Andy Robertson, and a third when George Hirst hit the near side-netting when he'd have been better off going across goal. Apart from that, there were only brief moments when Scotland's tempo and aggression was right, when they took the game to Japan and gave them a few things to think about. Losing to a late goal to a team in the top 20 in the world is no calamity - Japan beat Brazil by a goal not that long ago - but the passiveness of much of what Scotland did was where the disappointment lay.
As an attacking force they never really got going. They came here looking for a performance and some momentum and didn't get either. Japan didn't cut them open with their brilliance or outclass them from start to finish, they didn't pepper Angus Gunn's goal and force him into a string of excellent saves, but they were more cohesive and fully deserving of the win.
A first half of slow, safe and unthreatening football from Clarke's side - they had just two touches in Japan's penalty box in 45 minutes - gave way to a more urgent Scotland early in the new half. It didn't last nearly as long as they would have hoped. No iconic goal but a big miss to kick things off.
Last time we saw McTominay at Hampden he launched himself eight feet into the air to score an overhead kick for the ages. Here, he missed from point-blank range in the opening minutes. Great save from Zion Suzuki who tipped McTominay's effort on to the post, but a player of his calibre should not be missing chances like that.
He very rarely does. Had he scored would Scotland have found their intensity, their aggression, their self-belief against a tidy Japan team? Hard to say, but Scotland were hushed for too long in this game, too respectful of the visitors, not aggressive enough and too easily brushed off the ball, too flat, not enough edge.