Japan coach Ivica Osim named only 12 players in his provisional team Tuesday before next week's home friendly against Cameroon.
The Bosnian recalled Urawa defender Tulio, who missed last month's Asian Cup with injury, for the August 22 game and will add another 6 players for the game in Oita.
The Cameroon friendly will be Japan's 1st match since failing to retain the Asian Cup even though no Europe based players will be involved.
Japan's bid for a 3rd successive continental title were dashed with a 3-2 defeat by Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals in Hanoi.
Osim's side were then beaten by South Korea in a penalty shootout in the 3rd place playoff.
Saudi Arabia reached the final of the Asian Cup for the 6th time in 7 tournaments with a smash and grab 3-2 triumph over Japan Wednesday.
The Saudis relied on their thrusting, rapier counter attacks to surprise the Japanese who dominated the ball without often threatening to turn possession into goals.
Livewire forward Malek Maaz netted a brace with strike partner Yasser Al Qahtani also scoring to set up a final against Iraq, who had earlier beaten South Korea 4-3 on penalties in Kuala Lumpur.
The 1st half hour contained nothing more than some gentle Japanese probbing with Saudi Arabia content to sit back and hope for a moment of inspiration from their talented front pairing of Maaz and Al Qahtani.
The game got the goal it desperately needed on 35 minutes. Adulrahman Al Qahtani won a free kick on the left after somewhat typically throwing himself theatrically to the ground.
Taisir Al Jassam rose highest to meet his cross and the ball dropped kindly to Yasser Al Qahtani who needed no 2nd invitation to rifle home.
That seemed to wake up the Japanese who were level only 2 minutes later.
Centre back Yuji Nakazawa ran unchecked from deep onto Yasuhito Endo's corner and headed powerfully home from 6 yards, without even a hint of a Saudi challenge.
The 2nd period was not allowed to settle into a pedestrian affair as the Saudis broke the deadlock 2 minutes after the restart.
Taisir Al Jassam released Ahmed Al Bahri down the right and his pinpoint cross was headed home by Maaz at the near post.
Once again it had taken a goal to awake the Japanese and they drew level again after another 6 minutes.
Nachiro Takahara rose highest to head back Endo's corner for Yuki Abe to volley home acrobatically.
As with the 1st half Japan dominated the ball however the Saudis were always dangerous on the break.
And on 57 minutes they went in front again through a brilliant individual strike from Maaz, who twisted and turned 2 defenders before finishing with the outside of his boot.
Substitute Ahmed Al Mousa had a chance to finish the game on 64 minutes however greedily opted to shoot when a pass was needed.
Another substitute Naotake Hanyu almost had taken the tie into extra time however thudded the bar from 25 yards with 9 minutes to play.
23 06 2007
Japanese international midfielder Yuki Abe tuned up for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup with a goal to give defending champions Urawa Red Diamonds a 1-0 triumph over Shimizu S-Pulse in the J-League on Saturday.
The goal came in the 24th minute when Brazilian Ponte's corner connected with Abe's diving header. "I am glad that I scored, however the game was not over. I was more glad to win at the moment when I heard the final whistle," mentioned Abe after netting his 3rd goal of the season.
Urawa's German coach Holger Osieck appeared satisfied with the display of his players. "It was a perfect week for us. We won all 3 games without losing a goal. Furthermore, our performances were very good. I feel my players have enhanced a lot this week," mentioned Osieck.
"I do not point out a particular player, I only would like to praise everybody of the team. For example, Tulio is an important player and when he got an injury to be replaced, the substitute player did a very good job. It is the team's possible that everybody can do the same. I really would like to praise all of my players," he added.
But Urawa did not close on front-runners Gamba Osaka, who overwhelmed FC Tokyo 6-2 later in the day with Brazilian forward Magno Alves and Ryuji Bando scoring 2 goals each.
Osaka raced on to 38 points to retain a 5 point lead over Urawa, followed by Albirex Niigata on 29 points, Jubilo Iwata on 28 and Kashima Antlers on 27.
Niigata defeated JEF United Chiba 2-1, and Iwata downed Kawasaki Frontale 3-2, whilst Kashima will play Nagoya Grampus 8 Sunday.
In other games, Yoshito Okubo was pulled down in the area in injury time and then scored a decisive penalty to give Vissel Kobe a 3-2 triumph over Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
Kashiwa Reysol were 4-2 winners over Yokohama FC, whilst Ventforet Kofu defeated Oita Trinita 2-0.
18 06 2007
Japan coach Ivica Osim axed European based pair Junichi Inamoto and Koji Nakata when he named his provisional 30 man Asian Cup team Monday.
The Bosnian put his faith in Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura and Frankfurt forward Naohiro Takahara for next month's tournament.
Inamoto and Nakata were regular fixtures under Japan's previous 2 coaches, Frenchman Philippe Troussier and Brazilian Zico.
But Osim criticised them for poor performances during the Kirin Cup earlier this month even though the 66 year old denied he has only finished both men's international careers.
"It does not mean they are finished," Osim informed reporters. "They simply must work hard to give themselves a chance to play in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers."
Japan will be bidding for a 3rd successive Asian Cup title in this year's tournament, which takes place from July 7-29 and will be co-hosted by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Osim's side face Qatar in Hanoi in their opening Group B match on July 9.
The former Yugoslavia coach will cut his final team to 23 before Japan leave for Vietnam on July 4.
