National team manager Vahid Halilhodzic may have learned a great deal from last week's E-1 Football Championship, but it is open to question how much it will benefit him at next summer's World Cup in Russia.
Japan finished second at the four-team regional tournament held at Tokyo's Ajinomoto Stadium, beating North Korea 1-0 and China 2-1 in its first two games before coming spectacularly unstuck in a 4-1 mauling by eventual champion South Korea.
Halilhodzic picked an inexperienced squad for the competition in the absence of his unavailable European-based players, several injured J. League-based regulars and players from Asian club champions Urawa Reds, who were involved in the Club World Cup. The manager handed international debuts to nine players over the course of the tournament, and several of them gave a good account of themselves.
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