Japan to face Egypt without Euro stars

Japan coach Ivica Osim announced that he will leave out European-based players for the international friendly against Egypt on October 17th.<br>

كتب : Omar AbdelAziz

السبت، 06 أكتوبر 2007 - 13:11
Osim
Japan coach Ivica Osim announced that he will leave out European-based players for the international friendly against Egypt on October 17th.

The Bosnian revealed that it would be too much on the players, who already have a piled-up fixture list in Europe.

"It is not desirable for me to take the trouble in calling them up for an international friendly and put a burden on them in their conditioning regime," the Japan manager was quoted as saying by the-AFC.com

The Japanese team will miss the likes of Celtic ace Shunsuke Nakamura, Frankfurt duo Naohiro Takahara and Junichi Inamoto, and Le Mans' Daisuke Matsui.

Moreover, Osim hinted that he might also omit Urawa Reds players from the game, as the J-League holders have a decisive Asian Champions League semi-final tie against South Korea's Seongnam a week later.

"Everyone in Japan is wishing that Urawa will conquer Asia," said Osim, who led Japan to the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup this year.