National Team Match:
Japan 0 - 0 Paraguay

Date: 8 June, 2003 Location: Nagai Stadium, Osaka Japan 0 0 1H 0 0 2H 0 0 Paraguay Scoring -- Cautions -- Seigo Narazaki, Keisuke Tsuboi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Nobuhisa Yamada, Alessandro Santos, Takashi Fukunishi (Koji Nakata 45), Yasuhito Endo, Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Naohiro Takahara, Yoshito Okubo ---

There isnt much to be said about this contest, which ended in a scoreless draw, except that it was the first contest of the Zico era to feature the defensive group that would become the "core" of Zico's team over the remainder of his tenure. Tsuneyasu Miyamoto took control of the back line with Takashi Fukunishi and Yasuhito Endo in front of him, and Alex Santos on the left. Hide Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura took care of the offensive midfield duties. Keisuke Tsuboi would eventually be replaced by the taller and more physical Yuji Nakazawa, and Nobuhisa Yamada would make way for the younger (but arguably less talented) Akira Kaji. However, in both form and character, it was pretty much the same group that Zico would stick with through thick and thin, over the next three years.