Following his achievements at the World Youth Championship (runnerup) and in the Olympic qualifiers (qualified with 12 out of 12 wins) in 1999, Japan manager Philippe Troussier is aiming to make 2000 even more successful.
He's hoping to guide the Olympic team to a medal at the Sydney Olympics in September and the senior team to the Asian Cup title in October.
"I expect the Olympics will be highly competitive," Troussier admits. "Ten teams (out of 16 in the tournament) -- the likes of Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands -- will have high quality and all of them will be there to win the gold medal.