JFA boss says Zico came close to sack

TOKYO, Aug 17 (Reuters) Former Japan coach Zico was close to being sacked before the World Cup, according to Japan Football Association (JFA) president Saburo Kawabuchi.

Zico stepped down as planned following Japan's first-round flop in Germany but Kawabuchi acknowledged he had thought about firing the Brazilian during a bumpy qualifying campaign.

''During the qualifiers I did think about replacing him,'' Kawabuchi told Reuters. ''But after we had got through the qualifiers I thought there was no reason to.'' Japan failed to make any impact at the World Cup finals, however, and Kawabuchi admitted in hindsight that the team had lacked direction under Zico.

The JFA chief was mystified why Zico had adopted a hands-off approach to coaching with Japan after being involved more closely as technical director of J-League club Kashima Antlers.

''When he was at Kashima he taught players everything, from ball control to diet. I thought he would do the same as the Japan coach,'' said Kawabuchi.

''But from the start he stopped doing it. I was a bit surprised.

I thought he would at least give them some tips. I thought he should but he didn't. I don't know why.'' Kawabuchi expressed confidence that new Japan coach Ivica Osim would instil more discipline and repair the inertia which had spread through the side in Zico's last two years.

NO DIRECTION ''Zico trusted the players' abilities but some of them were left wondering what to do,'' Kawabuchi said. ''Japan players need some direction and that's what Osim is giving them now.

''They showed in three days under Osim what they had not done in two years.'' The Japanese were beaten 3-1 by Australia in their opening game at the World Cup and a goalless draw with Croatia left them needing a miracle against Brazil, which failed to materialise.

''I don't want to criticise Zico but perhaps he was a bit naive,'' said Kawabuchi. ''Or perhaps the players didn't have the intelligence to put his methods into practice.

''If you look at the results maybe you could say Zico was wrong not to see that. I think there were times when I wanted him to do more.'' Kawabuchi also blamed Japan's astonishing late meltdown against Australia for helping tarnish Zico's legacy.

''God only knows what happened,'' sighed Kawabuchi. ''In the last six minutes everyone ran out stamina. They stopped running. The players were very sluggish against Croatia too.

''Against Brazil we just seemed to give up after they scored their second goal (in a 4-1 win). I have no idea what the problem was at the World Cup.'' But Kawabuchi criticised the fickle nature of Japan fans a week after a public demonstration by disgruntled supporters calling for him to resign over the team's World Cup failure.

''It's easy to point the finger when you look back afterwards,'' he said. ''If we hadn't made those silly mistakes against Australia everything could have been different.

''Then people would have been saying Zico was a great success.'' REUTERS PM VC0915