Japan versus Togo Preview

Japan faces FIFA ranked 71 Togo tomorrow in a friendly match that will help prepare at least one side for the upcoming World Cup. Togo was eliminated from World Cup qualifying last Saturday with a demoralizing 3-0 loss to Cameroon. Togo will also be without Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Aston Villa midfielder Mustapha Salifou. Without their main attacking threat and midfield general, Togo will be sending out a much weakened side with low morale and little international experience. Expect Japan to jump all over them.

The Togo match will conclude the 3 match series that Japan began with a 6-0 AFC Qualification win against Hong Kong, followed by a 2-0 victory over a second rate Scotland side. They will hope to add to the already 8-0 score deficit and will very likely break the double digit margin.

While Japan have continued to hone their skills, none of the 3 teams they have faced this past week have been of World Cup caliber and may be providing false positives to the success of Japan. The next match against South Africa, the host WC nation, will be a much better indicator of how much Japan has improved or declined since the last WC in Germany.
What to Look for:

Depending on Takeshi Okada's agenda, we may see the full first team take the pitch or he may give way to the fringe players to give them more playing time.

Expect Eiji Kawashima to fill the keeper role left vacant by an injured Seigo Narazaki. Depending on Kawashima's play, he may supplant Narazaki as the first team keeper.

On defense, I would like to see more of Daiki Iwamasa who made his international debut in teh last match against Scotland. Playing the whole 90 minutes, Okada may choose to give way to the more rested Tulio Tanaka or Yuji Nakazawa, the two most familiar faces in the back line.

In midfield, Okada has a whole array of options, but I wouldn't expect to see any new surprises or combination. Most likely, he will start the players from the Hong Kong match: Shunsuke Nakamura, Yasuhito Endo, Makoto Hasebe, and Daisuke Matsui.

Up top, I would be surprised if Takayuki "The Shining" Morimoto doesn't start alongside the proven Shinji Okazaki. Okada stated after the Scotland game that he "was surprised" by Mori's attacking play, which suggests to me that he hasn't seen as much of Morimoto playing for Catania as I have. I'm sure Okada will want to give him more time to work on his chemistry with the first team midfield and fellow striker. He's the real deal, and will be in Japan's starting eleven in South Africa 2010.
My Prediction:

A demoralized team missing its two best players = No Problem for a fit, confident Japan side. I'm going to go a little wild with my guess this time, but I'm going to say we grab a header goal off a corner, our strikers each get a goal apiece, and maybe Naka or Endo gives us a free-kick beauty as well.

Japan 4 - Togo 1