Japan take time to revel in sense of adventure

By Tuesday evening, Japan may have finally bowed its collective head to the fact that the spoils of the world's most celebrated sporting occasion are being fought over within its boundaries. This is the land that football forgot. In the city of Kobe, near England's base camp on Awaji Island, there is not so much a fever as a raging disregard.

The average local resident here would no more step out of his home to watch David Beckham than most Englanders would have fought for tickets to last week's Yomiuri Giants-Hiroshima Carp baseball game. Even where there are pockets of interest, the Japanese have an identity crisis. Where fanaticism exists, principally among the young, it tends to be focused not on their own players, but on traditional world football powers, particularly England, and taken to extremes. Sunday's friendly against Cameroon was characterised by the home crowd assembling in not just the odd Beckham or Owen shirt but the whole regalia; some donned Cross of St George curly wigs.

Yet, their first match, against Belgium in Saitama on Tuesday, might just begin to alter that perception of Japan being the kind of hosts who are better off spending the night away while the party is on. That's if you believe that a side boasting a Portsmouth goalkeeper, Yoshikatsu Kawa-guchi, is capable of winning a World Cup match.

In fact, assisted by home advantage, Philippe Troussier's squad, who have gathered from such diverse points as the Kashima Antlers and Grampus Eight to Feyenoord (Shinji Ono), Parma (Hidetoshi Nakata) and Arsenal (Junichi Inamoto), are capable of qualifying for the last 16 from Group H, which also includes Russia and Tunisia.

Troussier insists that Japan, who lost all three first-round games at their World Cup baptism in France 98 but who were the Asian Cup winners in 2000 and Confederations' Cup runners-up last year, will be encouraged to advance to the latter stages by the adventurous route. "Planting ourselves in front of the 18m line, peppering the stands, winning penalties – that's not the spirit," he says. "We haven't been working hard just to end up building a wall in front of goal. No, we will give the players freedom to string three passes together."

The unorthodox 47-year-old Frenchman, who played in the French Second Division, went to Africa on his retirement. He managed clubs and national teams in six African nations, being referred to as "the white witch doctor" before coaching South Africa at France 98.

Troussier took over Japan in September 1998, and concedes that he still possesses only sufficient Japanese "to order a glass of water". Nevertheless, the national team have prospered under him. He declares: "I have a spirit of adventure. I want to coach the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona, Southampton. But they will demand results. I will be stressed out. Now I have the status of a messenger, a real missionary." Certainly Fifa will be hoping Troussier brings a new enlightenment to his adopted land.