SAITAMA — National team manager Takeshi Okada is determined to settle his side's rivalry with Bahrain once and for all in Saturday's World Cup qualifier at Saitama Stadium.
Japan has met the Gulf side four times over the past year, winning two and losing two including a 1-0 defeat last March that Okada described as "the most humiliating moment" of his career.
Japan avenged that loss with two wins in succession, but although Bahrain then took the honors in an Asian Cup qualifier earlier this year, it is Okada's team that holds the aces in the hunt for a place at the World Cup.