Asia Cup Qualifiers:
Japan 3 - 0 Singapore

Date: Feb 13, 2000 Location: Macao Stadium Japan 3 2 1H 0 1 2H 0 0 Singapore Yuji Nakazawa (19') Masashi Nakayama (41') Yuji Nakazawa (89') Scoring Naoki Matsuda (89') Cautions Nazri bin Nasser (35') Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Naoki Matsuda, Yuji Nakazawa, Koji Nakata, Teruyoshi Ito (Tomokazu Myojin 45), Masaaki Sawanobori, Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono (Daisuke Oku 51), Shunsuke Nakamura Masashi Nakayama, Naohiro Takahara (Tomoyuki Hirase 71) Mmd. Reza bin Hassan, Mmd. Rafi bin Mohamed, Mmd. Rafiz bin Mohamud, Iskandar bin Sahak, Subrumani Shunmugham, Zulkarnen bin Zainal, Abdul-Aziz Salem (Mmd. Noor bin Ali 77), Mmd. Nazri bin Naser, Tan Kim Leng, Azhar bin Baskin (Indra bin Daud 87), Ahmed Latif bin Ali

The qualifying matches for the Asian Cup, in 2000, marked the watershed for Japan's national team, between the "old generation" and the "new generation". Phillippe Troussier gave members of the old guard one last chance to show what they could do at the Carlsberg Cup in Hong Kong, at the start of the year. When they failed to come through, he began making a wholesale shift in his national team to the younger core of players from the U-23 team, which had been racking up a string of impressive wins in the qualifying rounds for the Sydney Olympics. At the Carlsberg Cup, Troussier started this shift, adding defenders Koji Nakata and Naoki Matsuda, and midfielders Junichi Inamoto and Shinji Ono to the starting lineup. But just two weeks later, when the qualifiers for the 2000 Asia Cup kicked off in Macao, the change in generations was even more apparent

The team that took the field against Singapore on February 13, 2000, had only two real "veterans -- Masashi Nakayama, whose enthusiasm and strength of character would keep him in the national team right through the 2002 world cup, and Masaaki Sawanobori, whose days were already numbered. The rest of the squad was basically identical to the U-23 team, with Matsuda, Nakata K. and Yuji Nakazawa forming the "flat three" back line, Shinji Ono, Shunsuke Nakamura and Junichi Inamoto in the attacking half of midfield, and Naohiro Takahara up front.

Of course, Singapore did not exactly present a formidable challenge to Japan in terms of player quality or organisation, but even so, Japan played quite well in this match. Nakazawa had probably his best match ever in a national team uniform, heading hope two goals from set plays in the 19 and 89 minutes. On both occasions he received excellent service from the corner kicks of Shunsuke Nakamura, who was beginning to establish himself as a set-piece master. Masashi Nakayama addded a goal just before half time, on a PK, after Ono sent Nakamura into the box with a deadly through pass, and the young midfielder was bundled to the ground by a Singapore defender.