Influential midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura is a major doubt for Japan's penultimate World Cup warmup match against England in Austria on Sunday.
"Shunsuke needs a bit more time to get back to his best condition and I am not sure if he can play," coach Takeshi Okada said on Friday at Japan's training camp.
The 31-year-old Nakamura has been struggling with a sore left ankle and only played the first half of an intrasquad match behind closed doors before spending the rest of Friday's session training alone.