Japan´s Nakamura ready to face Socceroos

Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura vowed Thursday to go “ugly” when Japan takes on group-leading Australia in a crunch World Cup qualifier at home next week.

“I don’t mind if we have to get ugly. We will go for three points for a win,” the 30-year-old midfielder told reporters as he returned home from Glasgow after being exempted from a Scottish Cup tie on Saturday.

“Most of the Australian team have played in strong European clubs for many years and they are at high levels,” he said ahead of the qualifier in Yokohama on Wednesday.

“I don’t think we will have such a beautiful formula in which we can make a number of good passes and score goals.

“We’ll go back to the defensive as soon as we lose the ball. We will be quick in starting set plays. We want to care about such small details,” he said.

In Asian qualifying Group A, Australia leads the table with a perfect nine points from three wins without having conceded a goal. Japan is in second place with seven points and Qatar has four points. Bahrain and Uzbekistan each has one point.

Nakamura said he well remembered how Japan lost to Australia 3-1 at the group stage in the 2006 World Cup finals when all the Socceroo goals came in the final nine minutes.

The Blue Samurai avenged the loss when they beat the Australians on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the 2007 Asian Cup quarter-finals in Hanoi.

“We will never repeat the same mistake,” said the left-footed master of place kicks.

He thanked Celtic for allowing him to skip the weekend tie at home against second-division side Queen’s Park.

“The sooner I start training with the (national) team the better I can communicate with them,” he said after a 10-hour flight from Glasgow.

He is to join Takeshi Okada’s squad in training on Friday.

Okada has called up Nakamura and four other Europe-based players for the Australia game, following a humiliating 1-0 away defeat to lower-ranked Bahrain in a qualifier for the 2011 Asian Cup on Wednesday.

Japan did not call up key overseas-based players for the match and the loss has put Okada under pressure again.

Japan beat second-string Finland 5-1 in a friendly here Wednesday but exposed their weakness by giving away a goal on a set play for the third straight game.