Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura vowed on Thursday to go “ugly” when Japan take on group leaders 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 excused 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.”
In Group A, Australia leads the table with a perfect nine points from three wins without conceding a goal.
Japan are in second place with seven points and Qatar have four points, while Bahrain and Uzbekistan have one point each.
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 third-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 European-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 on Wednesday but exposed their weakness by giving away a goal on a set play for the third straight game.
Whiskeymac
Guest
i agree, maybe not a crunch match in the sense that the whole campaign hinges upon it, but a massive game in the sense that there would be bragging rights, and a massive step in qualifying considering they are becoming such close rivals.
Albert Ross
Guest
An important fixture but hardly "crunch". This game only brings us to the half way point in the AFC Fourth Round Qualifiers Group A. Australia has five more fixtures.after this one - three of them at home... "Crunch" would be if Australia has to beat Japan at the MCG in June 2010 in order to finish in the top two in the group.