Japan coach Zico has confirmed his trio of European-based players, Junichi Inamoto, Hidetoshi Nakata and Shinji Ono, will be unavailable for the friendly internatiional Argentina on November 20.
All three are missing due to club commitments giving the recently-appointed coach an opportunty to take a closer look at some of the fringe members of his squad.
‘Argentina will obviously be a big test, so I was hopingto pick the same squad as I did for Jamaica (last month),’ said Zico.
‘Inamoto, Nakata and Ono are unavailable for selection but I know what they are capable of. The match against Argentina gives me a chance to have a look at some other players.’
‘Consistency will be an important factor for Japan in terms of team selection, so I will not be making too many changes when I pick my squad for the Argentina match,’ said Zico.
After their World Cup exploits, when Zico’s predecessorPhilippe Troussier led the hosts to the second round, Japan came back down to earth with a bump last month, managing only a 1-1 draw with Jamaica.
