India hoping for luck against formidable Japan

Bangalore, Oct 10 (UNI) Having lost four matches in a row, India will be looking to resurrect its fortunes when it plays formidable Japan in the AFC Asia Cup qualifying match at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here tomorrow.

Despite the tie being reduced to an academic affair as Japan and Saudi Arabia have already qualified for the main tournament from Group A, it would be interesting to see how far the Indian team had improved after undergoing a rigorous ten-day camp in the city under coach Robert Douglas Houghton.

The Irish national is hopeful that the team would put up a better show this time after going down tamely 6-0 to Japan in the away match. India, which is placed a lowly 29th in the Asian ratings, is led by star striker Baichung Bhutia. It plays Yemen, the fourth team in the group-- which has also made an exit, in its last encounter in the Gulf nation on November 15.

Houghton felt that the players can put up an improved performance if they believe in themselves. ''The ten-day camp has really done good to the players, who are little low on their spirits after four losses. This match is going to be different from the one against the Saudis in which we, despite going gown 7-1, played very well in the first half. The Japanese are highly skillful, compared to the Saudi's raw power. We will employ 4-4-2 formation compared to the likely format of 3-5-2 by Japan. We hope for the best,'' he said.

Japan has decided to field a young team in a bid to build a formidable team to make a mark in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. However, the team still boasted of four players who found a place in its 23-member squad in the previous World Cup in Germany.

Japan coach Ivan Ivica Osim said that ''though the match is inconsequental for Japan, good football is in store tomorrow since the Indian team has improved its performance as witnessed in their last match against Saudi Arabia. We are not taking India lightly and this will be a great chance for our young players to prove their ability.'' In the Indian team, S Venkatesh, who missed against Saudi Arabia due to injury, will be back in action.

The teams: India: Sandip Nandy (GK), Surkumar Singh, Deepak Mondal, Sanjiv Maria, N S Manju (defenders), Steven Dias, S Venkatesh, N P Pradeep, Renedy Singh (mid-fielders), Baichung Bhutia (Captain) and Manjit Singh (forwards).

Japan: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Norihiro Yamagish, Shusaki Nishikawa (Goal Keepers), Alessandro Santos, Santoshi Yamagouchi, Yuichi Komano, Hiroki Hiroki, Naoaki Aoyama (defenders), Naotake Hanyu, Yasuhito Endo, Takahiro Futagawa, Kengo Nakamura, Keita Suzuki, Yuki Abe, Yuto Sato, Hayuma Tanaka, Yasuyuki Konno (mid-fielders), Ryuji, Seiichiro Maki, Kazuki Ganaha and Hisato Sato (forwards).

UNI