Troussier comes full circle as Japan coach

ALASTAIR HIMMER

TOKYO, JANUARY 7: For Japan coach Philippe Troussier, it must have seemed as if 2002 would never come.

After taking control of the World Cup co-hosts in October 1998, the Frenchman watched things go rapidly downhill as Japan failed to win in seven matches in 1999.

A number of highly publicised run-ins with the Japan Football Association (JFA) also bothered Troussier, who even threatened to quit in 2000 after saying the JFA were “interfering” with his job.

Despite rumours that the JFA wanted to hire Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as a replacement, Troussier has shown over the past 18 months that his methods can bear fruit with a string of impressive results.

His disciplinarian style has led to several training ground bust-ups and a frosty relationship with Parma midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, which dates back to the Confederations Cup last June.

Nakata, then with Roma, annoyed Troussier by choosing to return to Italy after scoring the only goal in Japan’s 1-0 semi-final win over Australia rather than play against France in the final at International Stadium Yokohama.

But Troussier, who says he has “no time for prima donnas,” can point to success at the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon and at the Kirin Cup last summer as evidence that Japan can play without Nakata. Troussier even relegated Nakata to the bench for Japan’s friendly with Italy in Saitama two months ago, a move which paid dividends as Feyenoord’s Shinji Ono and Junichi Inamoto of Arsenal proved they could handle the extra burden in a 1-1 draw.

Japan won six, drew three and lost four matches last year, beating teams such as Cameroon, Paraguay and Yugoslavia along the way.

Defeats against France (twice), Spain and Senegal provided the Japanese with a useful reality check ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Matches against Ukraine, Poland, Costa Rica, Norway, Sweden and Real Madrid, are being lined up in preparation for Japan’s Group H opponents Belgium, Russia and Tunisia.

While Troussier is quietly confident Japan can progress to the last 16 this summer, he has already made it clear he will not sign a new contract with the JFA after the World Cup.

“Japan needs a new direction and I am not a candidate. I just want to sort out where I will be coaching next as quickly as possible,” he said last month.

Troussier, who had spells with the national teams of Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and South Africa in the 1990s, has been linked with the vacant Scotland job and a possible move to the English Premier League.

For now, though, he insists his top priority is guiding Japan into the knock-out stages of the World Cup, an achievement that would do his future job prospects no harm at all.

At the very least, Troussir will want to avoid a first-round exit, especially as co-hosts South Korea are likely to struggle against Portugal, Poland and the US in Group D. No host country has ever failed to progress from the group stage.

Not noted for his understatement, Troussier has even hinted at Japan going all the way. “My dream is to win the World Cup. Japan could win it. No bookmakers have given us zero chance of winning the World Cup,” he said recently. Given the support Japan can count on in Saitama, Yokohama and Osaka in June, a place in the last 16 is not beyond the co-hosts, especially if Ono, Inamoto and Kashima Antlers striker Atsushi Yanagisawa can reproduce their recent international form. (Reuters)