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Australia coach Pim Verbeek thinks Japan is lacking confidence ahead of next week’s World Cup qualifier between the two Asian powers.
Japan coach Takeshi Okada has elected to hold closed practice sessions leading up to Wednesday’s match, a move Verbeek says is evidence the hosts may be running scared.
“It doesn’t show a lot of confidence if you need to have closed-door sessions,” Verbeek said on Saturday. “We don’t have closed-door sessions and you are welcome down the whole week.”
Okada took the cautious step on Saturday, aware that Verbeek, who previously coached Omiya Ardija and Kyoto Sanga in the J-League, has many contacts in Japan.
“From tomorrow, we’ll have closed practices and only people I approve will be allowed in,” Okada told reporters. “Pim has friends in Japan and we don’t want people who may have been asked to come.”
Japan defeated Finland 5-1 on Wednesday in a tune-up for the Australia match.
Verbeek has called up Everton midfielder Tim Cahill and West Ham defender Lucas Neill for Wednesday’s match, and included only one A-League player in the 22-man squad after a domestically based team could only draw 0-0 at Indonesia in a recent 2011 Asian Cup qualifier.
Okada has recalled Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura and four other Europe-based players.
Japan and Australia are in Group A of qualifying along with Qatar, Uzbekistan and Bahrain. Australia lead the standings with nine points from three matches, two ahead of Japan.
The top two teams from each of the two five-team groups in Asia will qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
Japan and Australia have quickly developed an intense rivalry over the past four years, in which Australia switched to the Asian confederation.
The Socceroos defeated Japan 3-1 in the 2006 World Cup when Australia scored three goals in the final eight minutes. Japan then beat Australia on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the quarter-finals of the 2007 Asian Cup, while Gamba Osaka beat Adelaide United in the 2008 Asian Champions League final.
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