World Kick Off

Despite the fact that Japan lifted the Kirin Cup with a goalless draw at home to Paraguay on Tuesday, national team boss Takeshi Okada had his sights set on much bigger games.

Japan took the three-nation tournament with a 1-0 win over Ivory Coast three days previously but are focusing on four 2010 World Cup qualifiers that will take place in June.

The first is at home to Oman on June 2 when the hosts are keen to bounce back from defeat in Bahrain.

“It’s nice to win the tournament but we have bigger objectives with the World Cup qualifiers coming up,” Japan coach Takeshi Okada told reporters.

“We have done a solid job here but we can’t afford to lose those qualifiers. They’re must-win games for us. We will need to make our possession count more and take our chances better.”

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino was impressed by the Asian team, to a certain extend.

“Japan played some excellent football early on,” the Argentine said.

“It was like playing two different teams in the first and second half. Japan seemed to drop a level in the second half all by themselves.”