serious14
Well-Known Member
VERSUS
Yokohama International Stadium, Yokohama, Japan. Capacity - 72 370. Kickoff 7.20pm local time, 9.20pm AEDT, 10.20am GMT
Recent Form
Australia - DWWWWD
Japan - LWWWDD
Nakamura will join Eintracht Frankfurt's Junichi Inamoto, Saint-Etienne's Daisuke Matsui, VfL Wolfsburg's Makoto Hasebe and Yoshito Okubo for the home tie at the Yokohama stadium on February 11.
"Australia are the top team in Asia. No other Asian teams have such solid individual skills as Australia," Okada told reporters.
"We've improved our squad so we can beat such an excellent team," he said.
In the final qualifying round Group A, Australia leads the table with three wins for nine points, followed by Japan on seven points and Qatar on four points. Bahrain and Uzbekistan each have one point.
The top two teams will qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, while the third-placed team will have to survive playoffs.
Playing with only two of their Europe-based players, Japan suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Bahrain in an Asian Cup qualifier on Wednesday, triggering new media calls to fire Okada.
"We learn from defeat but we don't change our tactics because of defeat. We just play our best against Australia," said Okada, who took the job after Bosnian tactician Ivica Osim suffered a stroke in late 2007.
Okada doubted that many of the Europe-based players other than Nakamura would join the team for their February 4 tune-up friendly against Finland.
"Only Shunsuke is likely to join us earlier, because Celtic's opponents are a third-division team, so I expect Celtic to agree to let him join us earlier."
Brazilian-born defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka will also be back from a left knee injury, while goalkeepers Seigo Narazaki and Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi were sidelined due to injuries.
Japan Squad
Goalkeepers: Ryota Tsuzuki (Urawa Red Diamonds), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Takanori Sugeno (Kashiwa Reysol)
Defenders: Shuhei Terada (Kawasaki Frontale), Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama Marinos), Kazumichi Takagi (Gamba Osaka), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Urawa), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Michihiro Yasuda (Osaka), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)
Midfielders: Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic/SCO), Hideo Hashimoto (Osaka), Junichi Inamoto (Eintracht Frankfurt/GER), Yasuhito Endo (Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki), Daisuke Matsui (Saint-Etienne/FRA), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Makoto Hasebe (VfL Wolfsburg/GER), Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka)
Forwards: Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba), Yoshito Okubo (Wolfsburg/GER), Tatsuya Tanaka (Urawa), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse)
SOCCEROO Scott Chipperfield admits he will be touch-and-go for Australia's upcoming World Cup qualifier against Japan - but he desperately wants to be fit in time.
The 33-year-old Australian international is believed to have picked up a knock on a scar, from a previous operation on his heel, whilst playing in a friendly for his Swiss club FC Basel two weeks ago.
Chipperfield hasn't been able to train since because of the pain and just last week he missed out on a move to German club Hertha Berlin after failing a medical.
Speaking on the official FC Basel website from a club training camp in Spain, Chipperfield explained the extent of the problem.
"I think in the remaining days here in Spain I shall train again with the team and the coaches and be fit again on February 7 or the week later against Grasshoppers," Chipperfield said.
Chipperfield's comment suggests he remains a doubt for the Japan match as Basel's match against Grasshoppers is scheduled to take place on February 15, four days after Australia's match in Yokohama.
But Socceroos fans can be enthused by comments from Chipperfield's club boss Christian Gross in a Swiss newspaper, after he claimed the lone goalscorer in Uzbekistan was desperate to be fit to play in Yokohama and would do all he could to be so.
Speaking in an interview with Swiss newspaper the Basler Zeitung, Gross revealed he had surprised Chipperfield by personally collecting him from Alicante airport in Spain where the Socceroo linked up with the Basel squad for a training camp, after his failed trial in the German capital.
Then the one-time Tottenham boss added the first thing Chipperfield told him at the airport was that he was desperate to be available for the Japan match.
"He asked me immediately, may I contest in Australia's important World Cup qualifier against Japan on February 11?" Gross said.
FARKIN FIRE THE FARK UP!!!!!!!
