GLASGOW (AP) — Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu hailed his team's tactical flexibility after a late Junya Ito strike secured a 1-0 victory over Scotland in a pre- World Cup friendly at Hampden Park, leaving the home side facing a chorus of boos.
In a key warm-up for their eighth successive World Cup appearance, the Samurai Blue overcame a bright Scotland start to dominate the second half. Substitute Ito proved the difference in the 84th minute with a clinical finish from 12 yards to settle a tight contest.
Click to Gallery
Japan's players celebrate their victory at the international friendly soccer match between Scotland and Japan in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Japan's Junya Ito scores the opening goal during the international friendly soccer match against Scotland, in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday March 28, 2026. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)
Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu, right, greets Scotland head coach Steve Clarke at the end of the international friendly soccer match between Scotland and Japan in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu reacts after the international friendly soccer match between Scotland and Japan in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Japan's Junya Ito scores the opening goal during the international friendly soccer match against Scotland, in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday March 28, 2026. (Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)
While Scotland manager Steve Clarke admitted he was “surprised and disappointed” by the negative reaction from the Tartan Army, Moriyasu focused on his side’s defensive discipline and late clinical edge.
“I am very pleased to play in such a fantastic atmosphere,” Moriyasu said. “It was a tough game and we managed to keep a clean sheet. Toward the end, we changed the setup to get the goal. It was great for building confidence.”
The visitors survived an early scare when Zion Suzuki pushed a Scott McTominay effort onto the post, but Japan gradually asserted control. Kodai Sano clipped the bar before the break, and the pressure eventually told when Ito got the breakthrough.
The result leaves Scotland winless in four meetings against Japan as both sides prepare for the World Cup in North America starting in June.
Japan plays England at Wembley Stadium in London on Tuesday.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Japan's players celebrate their victory at the international friendly soccer match between Scotland and Japan in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Japan's Junya Ito scores the opening goal during the international friendly soccer match against Scotland, in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday March 28, 2026. (Steve Welsh/PA via AP)
Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu, right, greets Scotland head coach Steve Clarke at the end of the international friendly soccer match between Scotland and Japan in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu reacts after the international friendly soccer match between Scotland and Japan in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
Japan's Junya Ito scores the opening goal during the international friendly soccer match against Scotland, in Glasgow, Scotland, Saturday March 28, 2026. (Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Large crowds protested Saturday against the war in Iran and President Donald Trump's actions in “No Kings” rallies across the U.S. and in Europe. Minnesota took center stage, with thousands of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder to celebrate resistance to Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement.
Minnesota's flagship event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner. He and other speakers praised the state's people for taking to the streets over the winter in opposition to a surge of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.
Springsteen performed “ Streets of Minneapolis,” the song he wrote in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. Springsteen lamented Good and Pretti’s deaths but said the state's pushback against ICE has given the rest of the country hope.
“Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America,” he said. “And this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities, will not stand.”
People rallied from New York City, with almost 8.5 million residents in a solidly blue state, to Driggs, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in eastern Idaho, a state Trump carried with 66% of the vote in 2024.
U.S. organizers have estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. This week they told reporters they expected 9 million participants Saturday, though it was too early to tell whether those expectations were met.
Organizers said more than 3,100 events — 500 more than in October — were registered, in all 50 states.
Protests were mostly peaceful, but federal authorities deployed tear gas “due to demonstrators throwing large concrete blocks, bottles and other objects” in downtown Los Angeles, police said on the social platform X. LAPD also said protesters were later arrested for failing to disperse.
Earlier in Topeka, Kansas, a rally outside the Statehouse had people impersonating a frog king and Trump as a baby. Wendy Wyatt drove with “Cats Against Trump” sign from Lawrence, 20 miles (32 kilometers) to the east, and planned to drive back to her hometown for a later rally there.
Wyatt said “there are so many things” about the Trump administration that upset her, but “this is very hopeful to me.”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson characterized them as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.
The “only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” Jackson said in a statement.
The National Republican Congressional Committee was also sharply critical.
“These Hate America Rallies are where the far-left’s most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone,” NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole said.
Trump's immigration enforcement push, particularly in Minnesota, was just one item on a long list of protester grievances that also included the war in Iran and the rollback of transgender rights. Speakers at the Minnesota rally decried billionaires' economic power.
In Washington, hundreds marched past the Lincoln Memorial and into the National Mall, holding signs that read “Put down the crown, clown” and “Regime change begins at home.” Demonstrators rang bells, banged drums and chanted “No kings.”
Bill Jarcho was there from Seattle, joined by six people dressed as insects wearing tactical vests that said, “LICE” — spoofing ICE — as part of what he called a “mock and awe” tour.
“What we provide is mockery to the king,” Jarcho said. “It’s about taking authoritarianism and making fun of it, which they hate.”
About 40,000 people marched in San Diego, police there said.
In New York, Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said during a news conference that Trump and his supporters want people to be afraid to protest.
“They want us to be afraid that there’s nothing we can do to stop them,” she said. “But you know what? They are wrong — dead wrong.”
Organizers said two-thirds of RSVPs for the rallies came from outside of major urban centers. That included communities in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Louisiana, as well in electorally competitive suburbs in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.
Organizers designated the rally there as the national flagship event.
Before Springsteen took the stage, organizers played a video in which actor Robert DeNiro said he wakes up every morning depressed because of Trump but was happier Saturday because millions of people were protesting. He also congratulated Minnesotans for running ICE out of town.
The bill also included singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a long list of activists, labor leaders and elected officials.
Protesters held up a massive sign on the Capitol steps that read, “We had whistles, they had guns. The revolution starts in Minneapolis.”
“Donald Trump may pretend that he’s not listening, but he can’t ignore the millions in the streets today,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Demonstrations were also planned in more than a dozen other countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia, according to Ezra Levin, a co-executive director of Indivisible, a group spearheading the events. In countries with constitutional monarchies, people call the protests “No Tyrants,” he said.
In Rome, thousands marched with chants aimed at Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose conservative government saw its referendum for streamlining Italy's judiciary fail badly this week. Protesters also waved banners protesting Israeli and US attacks on Iran.
In London, demonstrators held banners with slogans such as “Stop the far right” and “Stand up to Racism.”
And in Paris, several hundred people, mostly Americans living in France, along with labor unions and human rights organizations, gathered at the Bastille.
“I protest all of Trump’s illegal, immoral, reckless, and feckless, endless wars,” organizer Ada Shen said.
Richmond reported from Madison, Wisconsin, and Hanna from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press journalists Nicholas Garriga in Paris, Mike Pesoli in Washington, Colleen Berry in Milan and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, contributed.
Demonstrators march in downtown Los Angeles during a "No Kings" protest Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Demonstrators rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the No Kings protest in Washington, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Demonstrators march over the Frederick Douglass Bridge during the No Kings protest in Washington, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Demonstrators march through the Country Club Plaza shopping district during a "No Kings" protest Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
People attend a "No Kings" protest Saturday, March 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People take part in a national anti-war demonstration organized by "No Kings Italy movement" in Rome, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People take part in a national anti-war demonstration organized by "No Kings Italy movement" in Rome, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
People take part in a national anti-war demonstration organized by "No Kings Italy movement" in Rome, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A woman holding a banner reading "No Kings, No War" takes part in the "No Kings" protest in Paris, France, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
A woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty takes part in the "No Kings" protest in Paris, France, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)
FILE - Protesters stand off against California National Guard soldiers at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, during a "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
FILE - A person holds a sign reading "No Kings, No Oligarchs" as veterans and their supporters demonstrate outside Union Station Nov. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Thousands of protesters fill Times Square during a "No Kings" protest in New York, Oct. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova, File)
FILE - Dee Cahill of Margate, Fla., holds a "No Kings" sign as she participates in a pro-democracy, anti-Trump protest outside Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., as part of the "Good Trouble Lives On" national day of action, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Demonstrators march down Benjamin Franklin Parkway during the "No Kings" protest, June 14, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
