This will be the final match for Japan before taking on China, Hong Kong and Korea in the East Asian Championships, and the final appearance of 2003 by most of the Europe-based national teamers. Japan will have played 4 of the 5 African representatives in last year's World Cup, having already played Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia. The starters will be: Narazaki Yamada, Tsuboi, Miyamoto, Santos Inamoto, Ono, Fujita, Nakta, Yanagisawa, Takahara The squad: Code: Goalkeepers 1@Seigo Narazaki 1976.04.15@@185cm@76kg@@Nagoya Grampus Eight 12@Ryuta Tsuzuki 1978.04.18@@185cm@81kg@@Urawa Reds 23@Yoichi Doi 1973.07.25@@184cm@80kg@@FC Tokyo Defenders 2@Nobuhisa Yamada 1975.09.10@@175cm@66kg@@Urawa Reds 3@Keisuke Tsuboi 1979.09.16@@179cm@67kg@@Urawa Reds 4@Mitsuru Nagata 1983.04.06@@182cm@72kg@@Kashiwa Reysol 5@Tsuneyoshi Miyamoto 1977.02.07@@176cm@72kg@@Gamba Osaka 14@Alesandro Santos 1977.07.20@@178cm@69kg@@Shimizu S-Pulse 16@Atsuhiro Miura 1974.07.24@@176cm@69kg@@Tokyo Verdy 1969 21@Akira Kaji 1980.01.13@@175cm@67kg@@FC Tokyo 22@Yuji Nakazawa 1978.02.25@@187cm@78kg@@Yokohama F Marinos Midfielders 6@Junichi Inamoto 1979.09.18@@181cm@75kg@@Fulham 7@Hidetoshi Nakata 1977.01.22@@175cm@72kg@@Parma 8@Mitsuo Ogasawara 1979.04.05@@173cm@72kg@@Kashima Antlers 10@Toshiya Fujita 1971.10.04@@174cm@64kg@@Utrecht 15@Takashi Fukunishi 1976.09.01 181cm 77kg@@Jubilo Iwata 17@Takuya Yamada 1974.08.24@@177cm@76kg@@Tokyo Verdy 1969 18 Shinji Ono 1979.09.27@@175cm@74kg@@Feyenoord 19@Yasuhito Endo 1980.01.28@@177cm@70kg@@Gamba Osaka Forwards 9@Naohiro Takahara 1979.06.04@@181cm@75kg@@Hamburger SV 11@Takayuki Suzuki 1976.06.05@@182cm@75kg@@Heusden Zolder 13 Atsushi Yanagisawa 1977.05.27 177cm 73kg@@Sampdoria 20@Yoshito Okubo 1982.06.09@@168cm@61kg@@Cerezo Osaka
let the j leaguers learn africa more instead of calling up everyone from europe who often try to run away from the game like this http://www.asian-football.com/mrel/news_55750_E.html.
Cameroon did not choose MBOMA. Many young players were chosen. It is a change of generation. I am very regretful. This game is a friendly match. It is not an important game. I wanted MBOMA which is popular in Japan to participate.
It's too bad Mboma won't be playing especially since several of his current and former teammates with Verdy and Gamba are in the Japan squad. ----- The match will be Oita, and the residents of nearby Nakatsue-mura, where Cameroon held their camp for last year's World Cup, will again be supporting the Indomitable Lions. 400 Nakatsue-mura residents, or about 1/3 of the village's population will be on hand to watch the match and they have already prepared a Cameroon dekahata (big flag). http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/2003/11/12/104341.shtml (Japanese)
I don't know if they're doing anything at the match, but if you look at the flag, you'll see number 17 (Foe's number) in the middle. ---- A few injuries to report. Ogasawara hurt his left hamstring and Nakazawa hurt his right ankle so they are out. FC Tokyo defender Teruyuki Moniwa was called up to take their place. Cameroon also lost three players to injury and illness, including striker Samuel Eto'o.
Japan 0-0 Cameroon This game was not interesting. The only harvest is Fujita. He moved about the inside of a pitch energetically, and made many chances. I think that he is better than Nakamura.
Re: Japan 0-0 Cameroon It was interesting that before the match, Miyamoto talked about how Fujita made defending and sending outlet passes easier, and Nakata mentioned how communication improved with him in training. Fujita seems like the updated version of Morishima, someone who commands his teammates' respect and adds a dangerous element to the attacking midfield. It will be interesting how the midfield plays out when Nakamura is ready to return. Also, every time I see Tsuboi, I think of Matsumoto from Downtown.
nakata wants scotland and latvia for the next friendly match http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20031121-00000005-spn-spo and i personally want denmark for our next opponent
Re: >skipshady Well, Fujita's play resembles Morishima. They move about energetically and supply high quality pass to FW. And sometimes, they joins in the attack from the back of FW. Japan needs such types of player.
it seems like while japan senior side will be facing malaysia and iraq for the deadly blood scattering wc preparation, our u-22 will teach a lesson to russia a-team on feburary for the olympic preparation.