Champs Japan struggling to peak for Asian Cup opener
Sunday, 8 July 2007
HANOI, Jul 7 (AFP): Defending champions Japan are struggling against time, fatigue, torturous weather and coach Ivica Osim's frustration to peak for their Asian Cup opener against Qatar Monday.
"You'd better become realists. My job has no choice but to be done in real conditions," Osim said bitterly when asked if his squad were ready for their campaign to win a third straight continental crown.
He reminded that the J-League, to which all but two of his 23 players belong, only shut down a week ago after playing two matches every week since its kick-off in March.
"If I don't know about the players' conditions, it will be an insult to J-League managers. If you think I can redjust their conditions in three days, it will be an insult to me."
Japan are bunched in Group B with Asian Games winners Qatar, Gulf Cup champions United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, one of the four host nations of of the tournament.
Osim, who led the former Yugoslava to the 1990 World Cup semi-finals, fielded all his players, including Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura and Frankfurt's Naohiro Takahara, in a training match with a local army club on Friday night. Japan won 3-0.
"I told them to give 100 percent and see for themselves how much they can do in these conditions. Ask them how much they played in this weather," said the gruff 66-year-old Bosnian.
The evening match was played with the mercury above 30 degrees Celsius with 80 percent humidity, a day after they trained in typhoon rain just 20 hours after their arrival here from Tokyo.
"We learned that the weather was tougher than expected," said goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. "It gave us a very good incentive.
"It is quite humid. The pitch is unique with Southeast Asian grass and is very hard to play on," added the 31-year-old, who dazzled with incredible saves to lift a second straight Asian Cup for Japan and himself in 2004 in China.
"We are recovering our physical strength quite a lot. It is indeed tough and cruel to play in this heat without preparation but we are taking one step at a time to do what we can," Kawaguchi said.
The players checked the pitch of the match venue, the My Dinh National Stadium, before fighting the "The Cong" club, one of four army teams in Vietnam's second-tier league, on a sub-ground covered with the same long grass.
"The grass felt like a kind of weed," said Nakamura, whose free kicks helped Celtic to a second straight Scottish Premiership title and made him the Scottish Player of the Year.
"The ball floats over it when you make a strong pass or trap."
"You'd better become realists. My job has no choice but to be done in real conditions," Osim said bitterly when asked if his squad were ready for their campaign to win a third straight continental crown.
He reminded that the J-League, to which all but two of his 23 players belong, only shut down a week ago after playing two matches every week since its kick-off in March.
"If I don't know about the players' conditions, it will be an insult to J-League managers. If you think I can redjust their conditions in three days, it will be an insult to me."
Japan are bunched in Group B with Asian Games winners Qatar, Gulf Cup champions United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, one of the four host nations of of the tournament.
Osim, who led the former Yugoslava to the 1990 World Cup semi-finals, fielded all his players, including Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura and Frankfurt's Naohiro Takahara, in a training match with a local army club on Friday night. Japan won 3-0.
"I told them to give 100 percent and see for themselves how much they can do in these conditions. Ask them how much they played in this weather," said the gruff 66-year-old Bosnian.
The evening match was played with the mercury above 30 degrees Celsius with 80 percent humidity, a day after they trained in typhoon rain just 20 hours after their arrival here from Tokyo.
"We learned that the weather was tougher than expected," said goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi. "It gave us a very good incentive.
"It is quite humid. The pitch is unique with Southeast Asian grass and is very hard to play on," added the 31-year-old, who dazzled with incredible saves to lift a second straight Asian Cup for Japan and himself in 2004 in China.
"We are recovering our physical strength quite a lot. It is indeed tough and cruel to play in this heat without preparation but we are taking one step at a time to do what we can," Kawaguchi said.
The players checked the pitch of the match venue, the My Dinh National Stadium, before fighting the "The Cong" club, one of four army teams in Vietnam's second-tier league, on a sub-ground covered with the same long grass.
"The grass felt like a kind of weed," said Nakamura, whose free kicks helped Celtic to a second straight Scottish Premiership title and made him the Scottish Player of the Year.
"The ball floats over it when you make a strong pass or trap."