Japan captain Yuji Nakazawa has admitted that defeat to "pizza-eating" Australia in their final World Cup qualifier stung badly.

The Yokohama defender missed Wednesday's 2-1 loss in Melbourne with a migraine but did not pull his punches after analysing a tape of the game upon returning to Japan.

"We were beaten by pizza eaters," Nakazawa told Japan's Fuji newspaper. "They were on a different level to us."