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Respect due Japan comes of age as a soccer nation
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) -- It's been a hard road for the Japanese to soccer credibility, but it has the chance to take a quantum leap Sunday against world champion France. Japan looks on the final of the Confederations Cup as an opportunity to make believers out of doubters, as well as to get some payback for a 5-0 thrashing by the French in Paris last March. "We haven't forgotten that," Japan's French coach Phillipe Troussier said Saturday. "This rematch is a chance to show we play better. I hear that the players also want revenge, and that is good to see." If 44th-ranked Japan succeeds in knocking off the No. 1, it'll do it without its best player. Hidestoshi Nakata left the team to return to AS Roma, which had a chance to clinch the Serie A title on Sunday against Napoli. Troussier refused to comment on the absence of his star, who scored the game winner and commanded his squad in a 1-0 semifinal win over Australia. "For me, Nakata today is not existing," he said. Still, the ill feeling over Nakata's walkout was thinly disguised. "I hope he plays, but after a 16-hour flight to Rome, he will be lucky to sit on the bench," said an ironic Troussier. "And I do not know if he is lucky." Who can replace the 24-year-old playmaker? Much of the attention focused on Shiniji Ono, but Troussier said he wouldn't decide until just before game time. "He is young to have this responsibility," he said. "He has very great potential, but he must wait before he can be this man." Japan has other problems. Striker Takayuki Suzuki, who scored both goals in Japan's 2-0 shocker over Cameroon, was expelled against Australia and won't face France. Defender Ryuzo Morioka hurt his right thigh was listed as "60-70 percent" certain for Sunday. Whatever the outcome, Japan already has shown it can play with the big boys. Unbeaten and unscored on in the tournament, the team is coming off wins over Canada, Cameroon and Australia and an impressive 0-0 draw against powerful Brazil. "The final is a dream finish -- the world champion against the local team," Troussier said. "Japan has progressed and earned the right to play the final." If Japan has emerged from mediocrity, much of the credit goes to Troussier. After extraordinary success with Nigeria, Burkina Faso and South Africa, where he was dubbed the "white witch doctor," Troussier signed on with Japan in 1998 to prepare the team to stage the 2002 World Cup. Part of his campaign to bring Japan into the premier class of world soccer was to steel the team against the best. And the 5-0 loss to France was a big lesson, he said. "We cannot get carried away," he said. "We have to face it as if it were a World Cup game, where one set play can decide it all." French coach Roger Lemerre paid tribute to his colleague, who played under him for the French second-division team Red Star. "He has shown all his cunning, and tomorrow we meet as friends," said Lemerre. The French connection was not lost on Troussier. "Tomorrow, a French coach will hoist the trophy," he joked.
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