National soccer team manager Takeshi Okada last week announced the list of 23 players to play in the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa June 11-July 11. It will be the Japanese team's fourth consecutive appearance in the World Cup since its debut in the 1998 finals in France.
At a news conference May 10, Mr. Okada said that his goal of making the team one of the top four in this year's finals "had not changed at all." He added, "I will do my best so that the players can give full play to their Japanese-like skills."
A difficult path is likely to await Mr. Okada, who hastily took over the job from Mr. Ivica Osim in December 2007 when the latter fell ill. Japan will face Cameroon, the Netherlands and Denmark in Group E. The matches will be a tremendous challenge for Japan, which is ranked No. 45 in the world.