 |
Men & Youth |
|
 |
 |
|
 | News |
| | Schedule & Results |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
| 2010 FIFA World Cup |
|
|
|
| Japan to face Paraguay, Ivory Coast |
 |
| Japan coach Takeshi Okada. |
TOKYO – Japan will take on Paraguay and Ivory Coast in next month’s Kirin Cup, which head coach Takeshi Okada will use to prepare for the crucial 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June.
Paraguay will face Ivory Coast on May 22 in Yokohama before the Africans face Japan two days later at the Toyota Stadium in Aichi, marking only the second time the two sides have met after the Japanese beat Les Éléphants 1-0 in Tokyo in a 1993 friendly.
Japan will then face Paraguay in the competition decider in Saitama but it is the South Africa 2010 qualifiers in June that is at the forefront of Okada’s thinking, particularly after their disappointing 1-0 loss to Bahrain in their last Group 2 fixture.
“We played a miserable game (against Bahrain) and we must win the next qualifier against Oman at home and all the other remaining matches no matter what,” Okada told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.
“It is good for us to play stronger opponents as we can solidify our way of fighting through these matches.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
