Japan midfielders out to prove Verbeek wrong

Japan midfielder Daisuke Matsui says he is ready to prove Australia coach and his former J-League mentor Pim Verbeek wrong in a World Cup qualifier between the rival Asian powerhouses on Wednesday.

“Whatever the mouth speaks, it is the feet that we count on,” the Saint-Etienne player said Monday over Verbeek’s jibes that Japan were under pressure at home and lacked confidence after they shut media out of training sessions.

“Ultimately we’ll just settle it on the ground. We don’t want to be outdone mentally,” added Matsui, who was coached by the Dutchman at J-League strugglers Kyoto Purple Sanga in 2003.

“He bullied me a lot back then. I want to pay it back,” he joked. “He was more than a disciplinarian. He limited the way we played. But, in the end, I felt he was a great coach.”

Fellow midfielder Yasuhito Endo, who powered J-League Gamba Osaka to their first AFC Champions League title last year, also shrugged off Verbeek’s comment.

“I don’t know him well and I don’t feel anything in particular,” he said on Sunday.

“There is pressure, as a matter of fact, but we are worthless if we lose out to pressure,” he said. “I want the team to turn that pressure into energy.”

Matsui and Endo will join Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura in Japan’s midfield to take on the physically stronger Socceroo side, which is packed with players plying their trade in Europe.

Australia lead Asia’s Group 1 with a perfect nine points from three straight wins, followed by Japan on seven points and Qatar on four. Bahrain and Uzbekistan each have one point.

Endo was with the Blue Samurai when they beat Australia on penalties in the 2007 Asian Cup quarter-finals.

He also scored two goals and set up five others for Gamba Osaka in five matches last year when they beat Melbourne Victory in the ACL group round before whipping Adelaide United in the final and beating them again in the Club World Cup quarter-finals.

At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Endo was on the bench when the Socceroos stunned Japan 3-1 in the group opener.

“I think Australia are opponents we can beat if we play our kind of football,” Endo said.