Japan squad, as chosen by Javier Aguirre today, 15.30 for games against Uruguay and Venezuela.

Goalkeepers:
Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege, Belgium)
Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Reds)
Akihiro Hayashi (Sagan Tosu)

Defenders:
Hiroki Mizumoto (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
Yuto Nagatomo (Manchester Un… uh, sorry Inter Milan, Italy)
Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo)
Maya Yoshida (Southampton, England)
Hiroki Sakai (Hanover 96, Germany)
Tatsuya Sakai (Sagan Tosu)
Gotoku Sakai (VfB Stuttgart, Germany)
Ken Matsubara (Albirex Niigata)

Midfield:
Makoto Hasebe (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany)
Hajime Hosogai (Hertha Berlin, Germany)
Ryota Morioka (VIssel Kobe)
Takahiro Ogihara (Cerezo Osaka)
Gaku Shibasaki (Kashima Antlers)
Junya Tanaka (Sporting Lisbon, Portugal)

Forwards:
Shinji Okazaki (FSV Mainz 05, Germany)
Keisuke Honda (AC Milan, Italy)
Yoichiro Kakitani (FC Basel, Switzerland)
Yuya Osako (FC Koln, Germany)
Yusuke Minagawa (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
Yoshinori Muto (FC Tokyo)

What do you think? Who is missing? Who is a shock?

GK
川島　永嗣　ｶﾜｼﾏ ｴｲｼﾞ（スタンダール・リエージュ／ベルギー）
西川　周作　ﾆｼｶﾜ ｼｭｳｻｸ（浦和レッズ）
林　彰洋　ﾊﾔｼ ｱｷﾋﾛ（サガン鳥栖）

DF
水本　裕貴 ﾐｽﾞﾓﾄ ﾋﾛｷ（サンフレッチェ広島）
長友　佑都 ﾅｶﾞﾄﾓ ﾕｳﾄ（インテル・ミラノ／イタリア）
森重　真人 ﾓﾘｼｹﾞ ﾏｻﾄ（ＦＣ東京）
吉田　麻也 ﾖｼﾀﾞ ﾏﾔ（サウサンプトン／イングランド）
酒井　宏樹 ｻｶｲ ﾋﾛｷ（ハノーファー96／ドイツ）
坂井　達弥 ｻｶｲ ﾀﾂﾔ（サガン鳥栖）＊
酒井　高徳 ｻｶｲ ｺﾞｳﾄｸ（VfBシュツットガルト／ドイツ）
松原　健 ﾏﾂﾊﾞﾗ ｹﾝ（アルビレックス新潟）＊

MF
長谷部　誠 ﾊｾﾍﾞ ﾏｺﾄ（アイントラハト・フランクフルト／ドイツ）
細貝　萌　ﾎｿｶﾞｲ ﾊｼﾞﾒ（ヘルタ・ベルリン／ドイツ）
田中　順也　ﾀﾅｶ ｼﾞｭﾝﾔ（スポルティング／ポルトガル）
森岡　亮太　ﾓﾘｵｶ ﾘｮｳﾀ（ヴィッセル神戸）＊
扇原　貴宏　ｵｳｷﾞﾊﾗ ﾀｶﾋﾛ（セレッソ大阪）
柴崎　岳　ｼﾊﾞｻｷ ｶﾞｸ（鹿島アントラーズ）

FW
岡崎　慎司　ｵｶｻﾞｷ ｼﾝｼﾞ（1.FSVマインツ05／ドイツ）
本田　圭佑　ﾎﾝﾀﾞ ｹｲｽｹ（ACミラン／イタリア）
柿谷　曜一朗　ｶｷﾀﾆ ﾖｳｲﾁﾛｳ（FCバーゼル1893／スイス）
大迫　勇也　ｵｵｻｺ ﾕｳﾔ（1.FCケルン／ドイツ）
皆川　佑介　ﾐﾅｶﾞﾜ ﾕｳｽｹ（サンフレッチェ広島）＊
武藤　嘉紀　ﾑﾄｳ ﾖｼﾉﾘ（ＦＣ東京）＊

※「＊」は日本代表初選出。

Head to Head – 5 wins for Albirex, 2 for Consadole and 1 draw. Sapporo’s 2 wins both came in J2 in 2003, though!

Match Preview – it all comes down to this match and Albirex Niigata know they MUST win this match to have any chance of staying in J1. if they can win this and Vissel Kobe AND Gamba Osaka get anything less than wins then Albirex can leap frog those two teams and survive. A tall order but nothing is impossible in the J.League! The fact that they are playing the bottom team, long-relegated, nothing to play for, at home can only help, surely! Two away wins in their last four games has got them to this position, but it is two home defeats in those four games that have kept them down here. Is it a home jinx? Are the fans on their backs? Will the pressure be too much?

Consadole Sapporo have lost their last four, conceding 13 goals in that time and have only pride left to play for. Hang on, maybe they don’t have any pride left? We shall see! 27 defeats out of 33 games is soul-destroying for anyone and being away from home on the final day, they will have few fans to play for. I see a team playing out their final game trying not to concede more goals against a team that are under o much pressure to score, yet have manged only 20 goals in 32 games this season (discounting a freak 5-0 win in there somewhere). EXPECT a low-scoring DRAW and relegation for Albirex.

Head to Head
10 wins for Albirex, 8 for Frontale and just one draw over a decade of meetings.

Match Preview
Albirex Niigata dug out a vital away win at S-Pulse last time out and therefore kept in contention for safety, leveling up on points with Gamba Osaka, although 9 goals behind on goal difference, which could be vital on that final day. The defining fact from their season has been that they have scored only 24 goals in 31 games so far – that’s just two goals more than relegated Sapporo or, to out it another way, only four goals more than Sanfrecce’s Hisato Sato. But for the fact that their defence has conceded just one more goal than top team Sanfrecce they would have been relegated long ago. Although Albirex rarely score, Frontale do let a lot of goals in so Albirex need to find the net if they are to win this!

Kawasaki Frontale’s win over Urawa Reds last game out saw them reach 43 points and safety, if not mathematically, virtually! A single point from three games will be enough to make 100% sure of Frontale’s safety, and they would like to see that sooner rather than later, I am sure. An away draw with Vissel, and then that home win over Reds sees them in reasonable form and scoring goals – if Renato continues his sudden return to form Albirex will find themselves in deeper trouble by the end of the day here. EXPECT a WIN for KAWASAKI FRONTALE!

Head to Head – 9 wins for Albirex, 8 for S-Pulse and 5 draws over 22 matches since 2004.

Match Preview – It seems many games in these final weeks will be must-win for one team or the other, none more so that Albirex Niigata in this battle of the orange! A loss for Niigata will see them fall further back in the race for safety, but they will find it hard against a team smarting from a Nabisco Cup Final defeat! Albirex are also without their ace keeper Higashiguchi, who has been the lynchpin of an excellent defensive record this season (if only they could score goals, too!).

As noted, Shimizu S-Pulse will want to bounce back from their cup final defeat and home advantage will only help them regain confidence. The team was an average age of just 23 in the Nabsico Cup Final, but the experience will only help them grow. They know that an ACL place is up for grabs and they are on form. They may even feel, if results go their way, a 2nd place or even the Champinship is still within reach. They won’t let that chance go. The fitness of Calvin Jong-a-Pin may be an issue, but they have the players to get around that if he doesn’t make it. They are starting games with many youngsters, but the experience they are gaining can only be good (average age of starting XI in the Nabisco Cup FInal was exactly 23!). EXPECT a WIN for SHIMIZU S-PULSE!

Head to Head – Four wins for Albirex, to one for Sagan and no draws. Albirex’s wins were all in J2. Sagan won their previous J1 encounter earlier this season.

Match Preview –
Albirex Niigata look doomed to J2, and have done for a long time. A freak 5-0 win against Nagoya Grampus gave them 5 of their 23 season goals – just 18 goals in their other 28 matches is a pathetic haul which does not do their quite decent defensive record justice. Their goals conceded column matches top team Sanfrecce and they can expect to lose a defender or two to other teams if they do drop to J2 – which they will if they do not score goals against Sagan Tosu today – this could well be their last chance with Gamba and Omiya in decent form going into the final five games.

Sagan, on the other hand, have lost four of their last five after their bubble finally burst? They have dropped down to 9th and are mathematically still not safe from relegation! That won’t happen and they will have consolidated their J1 position in their debut season, the fans will not be complaining, but their season promised so much more just five games ago. They will be looking to end this bad run and it could be Albirex who feel the force today, especially without key defender Suzuki!! EXPECT a WIN for SAGAN TOSU!