Nakamura under Australia coach´s microscope

Australia coach Pim Verbeek said he was keeping a close eye on Japan and Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura ahead of the Socceroos’ crunch World Cup qualifier against the Blue Samurai, a daily said Sunday.

“I am using DVDs to study Nakamura,” Verbeek was quoted as saying in an interview with Japan’s Sports Nippon ahead of the qualifier in Yokohama on February 11.

“Japan have many good players. But we consider Nakamura as the most dangerous of them,” the Dutchman added in an interview that was published in a Japanese translation.

Verbeek said he had also obtained information on the left-footed midfielder from “a player who knows him very well,” — a reference, the paper said, to Celtic’s Australian striker Scott McDonald.

Australia are unbeaten after three qualifiers and lead Japan by two points in Group A.

Japan coach Takeshi 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.

Verbeek said he regretted that Europe-based players, who make up the majority of his squad, could not join the team until a day or two before the match because of their club commitments.

“I must check their condition first. Their training will be light,” he said. “I will be happy if we can come home with victory.”

Australia beat Japan 3-1 at the group stage in the 2006 World Cup finals. But the Blue Samurai avenged the loss when they beat the Socceroos on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the 2007 Asian Cup quarter-finals in Hanoi.