JEF United Chiba manager Ivica Osim said Tuesday he is interested in coaching the Japan national team, but a final decision will have to wait until after talks with his J. League first-division club.
"I'm interested in it. But it's still too early to talk about terms of a contract," Osim told reporters after a 90-minute meeting with Japan Football Association technical director Kozo Tashima.
"You can't make up your mind so easily about a thing like this, and I need to discuss the issue with Chiba first."
Tashima said he felt positive about how Osim responded to the offer from the JFA, which had placed the former Yugoslavia coach on top of its shortlist of candidates to take over from Brazilian coach Zico.
"I felt his enthusiasm about Japanese soccer, and he repeatedly said today he wants to help improve Japan. He would have rejected our offer if he were not interested in taking it," Tashima said after his talks with Osim.
Tashima visited Osim at his home in Graz, Austria, after JFA President Saburo Kawabuchi revealed last weekend that the association is in talks with the 65-year-old for the national team job.
Kawabuchi said he has been impressed with the coaching by Osim, who led Yugoslavia to the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup in Italy and helped Chiba win the J. League Nabisco Cup last year for its first-ever title.
In Tokyo on Tuesday, Kawabuchi issued a statement stating that the JFA "will not bring the issue (on Osim) to a conclusion until he holds talks" with Chiba officials.