STAR MAN ... ex-Celtic midfielder Shunsuke
Nakamura
Ex-Portsmouth keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, 34, was the
only surprise call-up by coach Takeshi Okada.
Okada has also picked four Europe-based players with
Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow, Makoto Hasebe of Wolfsburg, Daisuke
Matsui of Grenoble and Catania's Takayuki Morimoto all
included.
He said: "I had a hard time making up my mind regarding
al areas of the team, but I selected those players in order to win
and achieve our objective.
"I haven't changed the objective. In order to make that
come true, however, we first have to get through the group stage
and our first match against Cameroon will be the most important to
us.
"With those 23 players, I believe that we can achieve
our objective."
Japan squad: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya
Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi
(Jubilo Iwata); Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Marcus Tulio
Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Daiki
Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo
(FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers); Shunsuke Nakamura
(Yokohama F. Marinos), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale),
Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale),
Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe
(Wolfsburg), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow); Keiji Tamada (Nagoya
Grampus), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Kisho Yano (Albirex
Niigata), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Takayuki Morimoto
(Catania).