Kirin Cup win leaves bitter taste for Japan
Reuters - Thursday 15 October 2009, 06:59
TOKYO - Rarely can a 5-0 bashing of a
former World Cup qualifier have left such a bitter taste after
Japan's evisceration of a thread-bare Togo in the Kirin Cup.
Japan captain Yuji Nakazawa wore a sheepish grin while
accepting the trophy following a 2-0 victory over an equally
below-strength Scotland in the tournament's opener.
His coach was fuming after Wednesday's match in Miyagi,
however, Togo having arrived in Japan almost a day late with
just 14 players on Tuesday and decided to scrap training.
"We'll have to look at playing World Cup warm-up matches
away," Takeshi Okada told reporters. "Even if we fly in and fly
straight out again. We need to play against strong teams."
Photos in Japanese newspapers of Togo players slumped on
their suitcases at the airport accompanied news of eight
last-minute withdrawals after a financial dispute with the
country's FA.
More pictures of camera-toting Togo substitutes taking
snapshots of the crowd behind the bench during the match did
little to boost the tournament's flagging image.
Japan have qualified for next year's World Cup in South
Africa but Togo's failure to reach the finals led to a raft of
drop-outs for the Far East trip.
TIME RUNNING OUT
"We will be in trouble unless we play more testing games,"
Japan Football Association chief Motoaki Inukai told Thursday's
Nikkan Sports. "Time is running out before the World Cup."
Even striker Shinji Okazaki's second hat-trick in a week --
following a 6-0 Asian Cup qualifying win over Hong Kong --
failed to mask the disappointment of Okada and his players.
"You could tell by the atmosphere we were expected to win
after Togo turned up in such a pickle," said Nakazawa. "We just
tried not to get careless."
The game was far from a sellout with swathes of empty seats
in the stadium.
Okada had complained after 10 withdrawals from Scotland's
squad, stopping just short of asking counterpart George Burley
to provide sick notes after late injuries to key players.
"We wanted two tough matches but you can only beat the
opposition in front of you," said Okada.
"The hard work starts now."