NEWS

The Japan national team started their 2009 activities on Saturday with a weeklong training camp in Kagoshima Prefecture to tune up for their upcoming World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers.

Japan will play Yemen on January 20 at KK Wing Stadium in Kumamoto and visit Bahrain on January 28. Both matches are Asian Cup qualifiers.
After returning from the Bahrain capital of Manama, Japan will play Finland on February 4 at the National Stadium in Tokyo as a warm-up for their World Cup qualifier against Australia on February 11 at International Stadium Yokohama.
“Since we have matches to play in the coming weeks, we have to keep that in mind during our training camp and set our focus on the Yemen game,” said Japan coach Takeshi Okada.
“We want to improve the precision and quality of the things we’ve been working on since last year.”
Okada added: “The players have come here in better shape than I thought they would. Against Yemen, I want them to play like Japan players.”
From the initially announced squad, forward Yoshito Okubo was taken out after his recent move to German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg from Vissel Kobe.

Squad:

Goalkeepers—Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata), Ryota Tsuzuki (Urawa Reds), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale)
Defenders—Shuhei Terada (Kawasaki Frontale), Kazumichi Takagi (Shimizu S-Pulse), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Yosuke Ishibitsu (Vissel Kobe), Hiroki Mizumoto (Kyoto Sanga), Masato Morishige (Oita Trinita), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers)
Midfielders—Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Takeshi Aoki (Kashima Antlers), Kohei Kudo (JEF United Chiba), Hiroyuki Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Takashi Inui (Cerezo Osaka), Mu Kanazaki (Oita Trinita), Shinji Kagawa (Cerezo Osaka)
Forwards—Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba), Tatsuya Tanaka (Urawa Reds), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Shinzo Koroki (Kashima Antlers)
Coach—Takeshi Okada