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Japan's National Team

But coach Osim is clearly a man who understands the political gamesmanship and backroom skullduggery that comes with coaching a national team just as well as he understands the football side of things. That should come as no surprise when you consider that the 65-year-old Bosnian's firsh high-profile coaching job was as the head of the Jugoslavia team that took part in World Cup 1990, in Italy. Despite the fact that the country was falling apart around the team, in a nascent civil war, he managed to hold the team together successfully and lead them to the quarterfinals. But Osim eventually found himself forced to choose between speaking his true feelings about the collapse of Jugoslavian society, or putting on a brave face for the 1992 European Championship. He resigned in a very public display of principle, declaring that Jugoslavia "doesnt deserve to play in the European Championship" considering the fact that it was in the midst of a full-blown civil war. UEFA apparently was swayed by this statement, and ultimately banned the team from the last tournament it would contest as a single country.

When you consider this background, it should be apparent that Osim will be too touch a cookie to let the petty politicking of Japanese football circles distract him from his central objective. And sure enough, Osim's actions in his first few weeks on the job leave little doubt that he intends to run a tight ship, and will not let either JFA flunkies or tabloid reporters dictate how he operates. If anyone failed to get this message following his initial press conference, on July 21, he dispelled any remaining illusions with his announcement of a squad for the Trinidad & Tobago match, on August 9.

From the moment he assumed the job of NT coach, Osim made it clear that he wasnt too happy about having to play the Trinidad & Tobago match. Meaningless friendly matches, he declared, were a waste of time. At such an early stage of preparation, it would have been much better to have just held an extended training camp so that he could instil his football concept into the team and get an idea of how he could use each player effectively. He would much prefer to just cancel the friendly, but since he had no choice in the matter, fans shouldnt expect too much from this first outing.

If you take this comment entirely at face value, it might come off sounding remarkably naiive. After all, friendly matches are huge money-spinners for the JFA, and they arent going to stop holding such matches just because the head coach considers them inconvenient. However, Osim's point is entirely accurate. Friendly matches may allow a coach to test their team in a competitive setting, but at such an early stage of team development, a coach wants to be able to provide immediate feedback and suggestions, to let his players know what he expects of them. The level of competition against T&T will be a lot higher than against some generic university squad called up to play a practice match. But in an official FIFA-sanctioned match the coach cant just yell "stop!!", and walk onto the field to give players instructions when they fail to respond in the way he wants them to. If we assume that Osim was not really "serious" about cancelling the T&T match, but rather, was trying to make a point to both the press and the JFA and let them know how things stand, this comment makes much more sense. And subsequent events offer further evidence of how things are going to be done, during the Osim era.

Despite anxious pleading from the press, Osim refused to drop any hints about his squad in advance, and he postponed the announcement of a roster for the August 9 match twice, finally agreeing to name a team on August 4, just a day before the start of training and five days before the match itself. When the big day finally arrived, Osim sat down behind the bank of microphones with a half-smirk on his face, as if relishing the thought of what he was about to say.

He read the names off one by one. A lot of fresh faces and few established ones. But this was not that great a surprise. Everyone has been expecting a clean sweep of the Zico-era deadwood since the moment the final whistle of the Brazil match sounded, back on June 22. The bombshell came after Osim read the 13th name on the list. "Tatsuya Tanaka, Urawa Reds, striker. Thats it. Those players will face Trinidad & Tobago on August 9.

The next three seconds were a period of delicious suspense, like the moment in an action movie when the bad guy sees his doom approaching, mutters something like "oh shicksa!", and then is caught in a freeze-frame moment of helplessness . . . before the screen suddenly explodes in the final climax of poetic justice. When the room finally exploded in astonished chatter, you could see Osim fight back a chuckle. He was obviously enjoying himself.

When the questions finally started, you could tell that the Osim Era was well and truly under way. The burly Bosnian was well and truly in control, and the press could only dance to the tune that he selected. Every very outraged question was calmly disarmed and tossed away. Only 13 players?!?! "There are only eleven players in a football team, and it is common to use only one or two substitutes. So of course you can play a match with 13 players." Surely this is a joke? "No, this is the list for now, though it isnt closed. Many teams are playing matches right now (Gamba Osaka and JEF United are contesting the A3 championship, and will not be available for the T&T match, while the Antlers are in China at an exhibition tournament, and may have asked to have their players left out of consideration for the T&T friendly) so I may add some names when they finish their commitments."

It was a masterful performance, and it sent a number of messages that are sure to get through to even hard-headed JFA officials and clueless tabloid reporters. For one thing, Osim isnt going to let anyone dictate schedules and obligations to him. Arrange a friendly match without asking me -- he seemed to be saying -- and you might not get what you bargained for. It also let a lot of hot air out of the hyperinflated balloon that the press is constantly sending up, in an effort to sell newspapers. By giving them a list that was obviously, and admittedly, incomplete, Osim seemed to be saying: "dont start inventing new heroes just yet. Let that process take place on the pitch, not in the pages of sports newspapers."

Best of all, Osim pointedly avoided naming "famous" players who have not earned their keep in recent months. Nothing could be more blatant than the tactic of naming five players (out of 13) from the Urawa Reds, yet leaving out Shinji Ono. It is impossible to view this as anything ELSE but a deliberate slap in the face . . . and a slap in the face may be exactly what Ono needs to shake him out of his lazy malaise. Furthermore, it sends a signal to other Zico favourites who were similarly excluded, such as Takashi Fukunishi or Keiji Tamada. "This isnt just an oversight. I left you off the team deliberately, and if you want back in, youll have to show me that you deserve it."

Turning to the players who WERE selected, we cant make any real complaints. There are a few players who we think deserve to be there, and are not. But Osim made it clear that this list isnt complete (indeed, with Yasuyuki Konno pulling out due to a minor injury, Osim will probably have to name at least one more player for the T&T match in order to meet FIFA requirements for "A" matches). The only player who WAS named which causes us some reservations is Alex Santos, but our objections to Santos are based mainly on the view that he is getting old, and that other players (such as Takahito Soma or Akihiro Ienaga) may have passed him by in terms of talent. On the other hand, there were few players in Zico's squad who displayed the sort of energy level and determination that Santos did. This attitude is probably something Osim wants to recognise and encourage, and it seems to have earned the Urawa Reds winger a reprieve for the time being. Nevertheless, at 29, we dont think Santos will remain in the NT roster for that much longer. For the time being, he (along with keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi) will offer a bit of continuity as the new team finds its feet.

Here is the full roster named on August 4. As we have already noted, there will probably be at least one or two additions ahead of the match itself, since Yasuyuki Konno took a knock in a practice session on Thursday and is diagnosed as needing two or three weeks to recover.

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