Japan set for crucial World Cup qualifier against Qatar

Qatar and Japan clash in a crucial Asia Zone Group A qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup on Wednesday with the coaches of both teams under pressure to produce better results after recent slip-ups.

Qatar, who are level on four points with Japan but have played one match more, will be desperate for a win in front of their supporters following a crushing 4-0 defeat by Australia in Brisbane last month and a 1-1 draw against Bahrain in their previous home game.

Australia lead Group A with six points from two matches while Bahrain and Uzbekistan are languishing at the bottom of the table with just one point against their name.

Qatar’s only win so far has come against the Uzbeks whom they defeated 3-0 in 42 degree heat in Doha at the height of the Gulf summer, but with the temperatures coming down considerably at the start of winter, the Japanese don’t have anything to worry about at least on the weather front.

In fact coach Takeshi Okada is actually pleased with the prevailing climate in Qatar.

“Weather-wise we are very happy,” Okada told reporters at a pre-match press conference in which proceedings were conducted in four languages – English, Japanese, Arabic and French.

“Our players have trained well for this match. Their conditioning is very good and we are ready,” Okada, who took Japan to the 1998 World Cup finals, declared.

Okada played down rumours that he could be sacked if his side failed to beat Qatar.

“I don’t know where you heard this,” he told a reporter. “You are obviously reading the wrong newspapers!”

But Japan have other worries as they have to cope with injuries to key players and pressure from fans, especially after they were held 1-1 at home by Uzbekistan.

They will be without defender Yuki Nakazawa and goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki while Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura aggravated a knee injury in a Scottish Premier League match on Sunday.

“One of their players got on top of the injured part of the knee,” said Nakamura, who scored for Celtic against Hamilton Academicals with a 38th-minute penalty.

Qatar coach Bruno Metsu, who quit struggling UAE to take up the Qatar job in September after Uruguayan Jorge Fossati left saying he wouldn’t recover from a stomach operation soon enough, played down his team’s huge loss to Australia.

“That is the past, now we have to look to the future,” said the Frenchman who is called Abdulkarim Metsu by the local Arabic media.

“We held South Korea to a 1-1 draw in a friendly recently and although we lost to Iran 1-0 in another preparatory match, we are very happy with our performances,” Metsu said.

Metsu praised Japan, saying they were one of Asia’s top sides. “Obviously Japan are a very good team with lots of players playing in top professional leagues, but we are ready for them,” said the Frenchman.

“Our team has the players who can win the match for us.”

Qatar’s World Cup campaign throughout the various qualifying stages has relied heavily upon Sebastien Quintana and Fabio Cesar Montesin who have been accorded Qatari citizenship.

Quintana has been a thorn for most Asian defences with his goal-poaching skills and the Uruguayan-born striker had declared he will only weigh offers from European clubs after he had fulfilled his obligation to Qatar by helping them qualify for South Africa.

“Helping Qatar reach the World Cup finals is my dream,” he said last month. “I have had feelers from several clubs but at the moment my mind is focused only on Qatar’s World Cup qualifiers.”

A goal or two in Wednesday’s match would surely go a long way in that direction.