October 22, 2004

The Japanese Football Association have denied that they are taking next month's World Cup qualifier against Singapore lightly after criticism of their move to include 3 veterans - Kazuyoshi Miura, Masashi Nakayama & Yutaka Akita - for the game.

The move to include them for the qualifier in Saitama has met with criticism, with newspapers in Japan and Singapore debating whether it was an insult to Singapore, who lost 2-1 to Japan at the Jalan Besar Stadium in March.

The criticism has stung the JFA to respond in a statement to the officials Asian Football Confederation website.

In the statement - Zico's main aim is to prepare a team capable of winning against Singapore. This is his target. Of course, as with any match, the selection of players is up to the coach. But under no circumstances are we treating this match as an exhibition match. We have & will always treat international matches seriously.