Striker Atsushi Yanagisawa was all smiles Thursday after rejoining his Japan teammates for training and appeared confident he would beat a race against the clock to be fully fit for next month's World Cup finals.
Japan midfielders Hidetoshi Nakata (right) and Shinji Ono talk during the national team's training session in Naraha, Fukushima Pref.
Yanagisawa is still recovering from a broken metatarsal sustained at the end of March in a J. League match but said his right foot had given him no problems as Zico put the players through their paces for the first time at a training camp watched by a crowd of 3,000 in Fukushima Prefecture.
"Today was an important day for me because I need to improve my physical condition and the foot gave me no problems at all. It's fine," said Yanagisawa, who is back at Kashima Antlers on loan from Serie A side Messina.