Abu Dhabi: Keisuke Honda wasn’t satisfied with his performance despite Pachuca’s 1-0 extra-time win over 10-man Wydad Casablanca in the quarter-final of the Fifa Club World Cup at Zayed Sports City on Saturday.

The Japanese former AC Milan free-kick specialist sent a couple awry for his Mexican club in a slow burner of a game against the Moroccans, which only enlivened with a 112th minute winner from the head of Victor Guzman after Wydad captain Brahim Nakach was sent off on 70 minutes.

Honda’s best chance fell after the break from a poor keeper clearance, which he then returned back towards goal, narrowly skirting wide of the post.

Such world-stage opportunities are a chance for the 31-year-old peroxide blonde to get his name back into contention for a Japan national team call-up ahead of next summer’s World Cup in Russia. As such he felt he hadn’t done enough, despite his Concacaf championship winning side going through to face South American champions Gremio in Tuesday’s semi-final in Al Ain.

“This is my first Club World Cup, so I want to enjoy playing football, and I’m not young so I want to feel good,” he said. “That’s why I’m not satisfied today. I want to play better for the next game.

“We need to be focused to play well against Gremio. Of course, it will be a really difficult game.

“They won the Copa Libertadores in South America, so it’s normal that they should play better than us, but that’s our challenge against them.”

Of Wydad, Honda, said: “They did well, more than what we had expected before the game. They pressed us when we had the ball and we didn’t expect that, so it was really tough for us.”

Pachuca’s American defender Omar Gonzalez was also surprised by the African champions.

“The red card made them sit back even more and counter, and it was tough for us to break them down,” he said. “They didn’t give us any access to the middle, our only option was to go wide and cross it in. It was tough to get a goal, I’m just glad we did.

“It’s an incredible feeling to win the quarter-final, we’re all happy, we earned our place in the semi and now we look forward to the game against Gremio.

“We are underdogs against Gremio, but I think at this point anything can happen. Obviously we are very aware of the dangers they have on their team but we are also dangerous on the counter. It’s going to be a tough match up and anything can happen.

“We’re a young team and were nervous starting off against Wydad, but as the game went on we settled down and in the semi-final we should have a better start.”