FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

Japanese national coach Takeshi Okada’s axing of 31-year-old veteran striker Kazu Miura last week has shown up a generation gap within his World Cup squad, according to midfielder Motohiro Yamaguchi.

Miura’s comrades from Japan’s unsuccessful qualifying campaign for USA 94 captain and sweeper Masami Ihara and striker Masashi Nakayama, both veterans at 30 — survived the axe but are now looking over their shoulders, Yamaguchi said.

Miura’s 54 goals in 86 games over eight years were not enough to save him and although the impact of leaving him out “was not so much as I had expected—it did have something of an effect on Ihara and Nakayama,” said Yamaguchi, a regular starter. “But on the contrary, it was a great relief for the players who have seen themselves on the borderline,” Yamaguchi revealed. They now have the chance to prove themselves in the knowledge that established reputations count for little in coach Okada’s book as the squad prepares in the spa town of Aix-les-Bains for their country’s World Cup debut against Argentina next Sunday. Okada also left out defender Daisuke Ichikawa, one of the two teengers in his provisional 25-strong squad, and 29-year-old midfielder Tsuyoshi Kitazawa, a teammate of Miura’s at Verdy Kawasaki. Up-and-coming midfielder Shinji Ono, the other 18-year-old on the squad, and Brazilian-born forward Wagner Lopes did make the squad.

Shoji Jo has taken over the right forward position from Miura, who lost form after firing four goals against Uzbekistan in a qualifier last September.

Playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata, one of Jo’s buddies at the Atlanta Olympics, is now Japan’s main star after being voted Asian Player of the Year.