J. League top scorer Hisato Sato plans to let Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni know what the Italian has been missing during his two years in charge in the upcoming friendlies against France and Brazil.
"To be perfectly honest, given my age, I thought I might never get the call," Sato said Wednesday, ahead of Friday's game against France at the Stade de France. "But at the same time, I had to keep telling myself that nothing is impossible."
Sato, who turned 30 in March, has received his first callup since February 2010 when Takeshi Okada had a look at him at the East Asian Championship — but only after Zaccheroni's first choice Ryoichi Maeda pulled out with injury.