Japan must revive samurai code, says coach

Japan’s coach Takeshi Okada said Thursday his squad must harness the fighting spirit of the samurai to achieve its goal of reaching the semi-finals at next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

Okada said Japan’s Blue Samurai may not have the overall physical strength to match teams from the world’s football powerhouses but said “we can excel in sustaining power, endurance and explosiveness.

“I think the Japanese fundamentally have a strength which started with bushido (the way of the samurai) or long before that,” said the 53-year-old.

“But the fighting instinct has been switched off because of the convenience, comfort and safety of a (modern) society.

“We can fully fight if we turn on the switch again,” added Okada, who led Japan to a win-less World Cup finals debut at France 1998.

“We will have an ample chance if we improve individual skills and count on organisation that is our hallmark.”

After taking up his second stint as national coach in late 2007, Okada has insisted on targeting a semi-final spot. Japan’s best World Cup result so far was a last-16 berth in the 2002 edition at home.

In that match, Japan lost to Turkey 1-0 in their last match at the World Cup tournament they co-hosted with South Korea.

Japan lost to Brazil and Australia and drew with Croatia at Germany 2006.

For South Africa 2010, Japan have been drawn in a group with Cameroon, the Netherlands and Denmark, all whom are ranked higher than the former Asian champions, at 43rd.

In their first encounter with the Netherlands, in September, Japan lost 3-0 away to the third-ranked team, during a friendly tour in which they battled from behind to beat Ghana 4-3.

About Denmark, Okada said Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner leads Danish offensives with crosses coming in front of the goal.

“I am looking forward to the match against Cameroon,” he said.

He noted that, despite the superior physical strength of African teams in general, his squad had not lost to any African side.

They battled to a scoreless draw away against South Africa last month.

“What is interesting in football is that a team cannot play in perfect organisation if only their individual skills are strong,” he said.

“If individual skills are weak, a team can still organise themselves well. God does not create many teams that are perfect.”