Johannesburg — DON'T expect anyone to write it, let alone speak about it, because chances are that this brutal world is not concerned about such feel-good stories.

Especially at a time when all the focus appears to be on an England goalkeeper whose surname is so environmentally friendly he decided to donate an equaliser to the Americans in Rustenberg.

Or, as is as common with a Western media looking for that bad story everywhere on a continent that is dark and in a country that they say is so dangerous it's a mockery the World Cup is being held here, you are likely to read a lot about what happened at a protest in Durban early on Monday.

But don't lose sleep Norman Mapeza because that is the way this cruel world works.

Noone will talk about you because you are virtually an insignificant part of this world - a coach of a national team that has never qualified for the World Cup, which has only played in two Nations Cup finals in 30 years and that is ranked at a distant number 110 on the globe.

Even when you held the Brazilians at bay, for more than half an hour and created two good chances to open the account, they claimed the Samba Boys were bad rather than the fact that your boys were good.

So don't expect any credits coming from here Nomara.

Only you and us know the good job that you are doing in rebuilding our dear Warriors and so long may you continue in that right path that you have chosen.

On Monday something happened here that was quite interesting and that reminded me of you and your Warriors - especially that vibrant crew of home-based players who last tasted defeat almost three years ago.

Yes, that good band of players in our domestic Premiership who are unbeaten in 11 matches in the African Championship of Nations over a period of two years, that crew that won the last Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup on home soil without defeat and that crew that has provided the bulk of players who have helped our clubs to success in the Champions League.

It was the same crew of players who were here last week and played a friendly international against the Japanese in George last Thursday.

They were told on a Wednesday that the match was back on the radar, three days after they had beaten Seychelles to qualify for the 2011 CHAN finals, and by 6pm that day they were on the plane to South Africa, arriving here in Johannesburg at night, driving to their hotel in Pretoria, waking up at 4am for their flight to Cape Town and arriving in George three hours before the game.

But, like true Warriors, they battled on and held the Japanese to a goalless draw.

Noone gave them credit for their battling performance and the usual critics pointed to the fact that the Japanese had been poor and lost their preparatory matches leading to that game.

There was no credit given to Edmore Sibanda and his defensive colleagues for managing to repel the attack of a Japanese team on its way to playing the World Cup finals.

There was no credit to Mapeza for finding a way to shut out the Japanese.

Everything had gone bad, for the poor Japanese, the reports said, and nothing - in terms of credit - was being given to our dear Warriors and their young coach.

We were suddenly reminded that so poor have been these Japanese that they last won a match in March, when they beat Bahrain 2-0 in the Asia Cup qualifiers, and they had never won a World Cup match away from home soil.

But facts can be stubborn.

On Monday Japan, the team they said was poor, beat Cameroon 1-0 in Bloemfontein.

Yes, they beat the team of Samuel Eto'o of Inter Milan and Jean Makoun of Lyon, Nicolas Nkoulou of Monaco and Benoit Assou-Ekotto of Tottenham Hotspur, Sebastien Bassong of Spurs and Stephane Mbia of Marseille and Joel Matip of Schalke O4 and Eyong Enoh of Ajax Amsterdam.

Suddenly Japan became a good team on Monday because they beat the Indomitable Lions.

No one talked about the Warriors at the post-match media conference in Bloemfontein because, in the eyes of those present, Mapeza and his men didn't matter.

Japan kept on insisting that they wanted an African opponent, ahead of their opening game against Cameroon, so that they could judge their strength.

They chose the Warriors and the Japanese coach Takeshi Okada said after that goalless match in George that he believed his team had taken big lessons.

But no one listened, because those lessons had come from a team that didn't matter in their eyes, like the Warriors.

After all those Warriors played in a league that did not have the financial weight to attract interest.

Lengthens, who provided one of the players who featured for those Warriors, has been struggling to pay their players US$1 a day.

On Monday the Indomitable Lions, fielding a starting XI made up entirely of players based in Europe, including one who has just won the Champions League title, fell flat at the hands of the Japanese.

Method Mwanjali and his poor teammates refused to be beaten by the Japanese but no one gave them credit for that.

Samuel Eto'o and his fellow millionaires were beaten by the Japanese on Monday and, conveniently, no one talked about the part that a gallant band of Warriors from across the Limpopo had played in preparing the Japanese for an African challenge.

But who cares anywhere?

"Full credit to Japan.

"They were well-organised, they defended well, and it would have been harsh if they'd conceded in last five minutes," said former England captain Alan Shearer, who is covering this World Cup for the BBC.

"For Cameroon: a lack of passion, a lack of effort, they didn't seem interested. Samuel Eto'o sulked around the pitch. The coach has got it all wrong. How can you have one of the best strikers in the world playing on the right? He's completely wasted there.

"He's a world class player, he's their best player, he should be their figurehead, the focal point of everything.

"He should be in the box. He's not causing a threat out there (on the right). He looked lethargic, playing in the wrong position and it looked to me as if he didn't want to be there."

No, Alan, the Japanese found a way to play him - thanks to the lessons they got on a sunny day in George last Thursday playing against some certain Warriors from Zimbabwe.