A 12th-minute goal by Yutaro Abe stood up as Japan edged the United States, 1-0, Friday in their opening Group B game at the Under-17 World Cup. The Americans, primarily through Eddie Johnson and Mike Magee, created several superb scoring opportunities, but Japan goalkeeper Kenta Tokushige made two fine saves to preserve the shutout at Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago. Abe took advantage of a defensive error to give Japan the only goal it needed. He took a long cross on his chest near the top of the U.S. penalty area, but defender Chad Marshall — aided by Jordan Harvey — shield the striker from the ball in front of the net. Marshall, playing in his first game since suffering a hip injury in an Aug. 13 exhibition, tried to clear the ball to the left wing, but mishit it while falling. Abe tracked back to collect the ball, and his shot eluded advancing goalkeeper Adam Schuerman, a lunging Marshall, Harvey and Gray Griffin en route to the lower-left corner of the goal. A moment of silence was observed before the match in honor of the victims of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, and both teams wore black armbands. The United States on Sunday faces European runner-up France, which was beaten, 2-1, by Nigeria its opener. The Yanks and Nigeria meet on Wednesday. United States 0 Japan 1. Goal: Abe 13. United States (4-2-3-1) — Schuerman; Chun, Griffin, Marshall, Harvey; Stone, Capano; Mapp (Diaz, 75), Magee (P. Johnson, 84), Quaranta (Simo, 90); E, Johnson. Japan (3-5-2) — Tokushige; Aoki, Oi (Kitano, 92+), Fukuo; Kuba (Hirabayashi, 75), Nejime, Kikuchi, Naruoka (Kudo, 63), Fujimoto; Mogi, Abe. Yellow cards: Fukuo 91+. Referee: Paulo Cesar Oliveira (Brazil). Assistants: Nelson Cano Duarte (Paraguay), Steinar Holvik (Norway). Attendance: NA. Weather: 89 degrees, humid, sunny, then rain after nightfall.