Japan's veteran captain Homare Sawa has said that he wants to lift the standard of Japan football. The 32-year-old from Tokyo is set to compete in her fifth World Cup when Japan open their campaign against New Zealand in Bochum on Monday.

But despite reaching the quarter-finals in 1995, the country's record 166-capped player says her side have often underachieved on the world stage.

"We didn't get good results in past World Cups (they have gone out in the first round in the past three editions)," said Sawa, after the final training session at the World Cup stadium here.

Football resumed in Japan after the country sufficiently recovered from the tsunami as Vegalta Sendai played their first home J-League match.

Their long-awaited re-appearance at the Yurtec Stadium came 50 days after the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami devastated Miyagi prefecture and other areas along Japan's northeast coast.

Standing on the pitch before the game against Urawa Red Diamonds -- which finished in a 1-0 win for Sendai -- prefecture governor Yoshihiro Murai declared the contest "the kickoff towards reconstruction".

A number of Japanese football stars were involved in a charity match in to raise money for the Tsunami relief programs. Samurai Blue coach Alberto Zaccheroni fielded a strong side for the encounter in Osaka, including the likes of Inter full-back Yuto Nagatomo, Stuttgart attacker Shinji Okazaki and CSKA Moscow star Keisuke Honda.

Japan striker Shinji Okazaki has got permission to play for German Bundesliga club Stuttgart. Okazaki is now ready to join the bench for Thursday's Europa League match against Benfica in Lisbon after Stuttgart received a signed fax from FIFA more than 90 minutes before game time, the club said.

Stuttgart are also scheduled to visit Leverkusen in the Bundesliga on Sunday.

A certificate of international transfer had not been issued for Shinji Okazaki, although Stuttgart announced his signing on Jan. 31, because of a disagreement between the German side and Japan's Shimizu S-Pulse.

Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni has received a lot of praise from Japanese fans after their win in the Asian cup. "Victory for Zaccheroni Japan," read the headline in the Nikkan Sports newspaper. Thousands of fans celebrated the win in the streets of Tokyo's Shibuya entertainment district after Tadanari Lee's volley in the 109th minute gave the Blue Samurai the win.

Fans chanted "Nippon! Nippon!" after the match ended at about 2:30 a.m. local time on Sunday.

The Japanese Football Association is set to appeal against the red card given to Eiji Kawashima. The Samurai Blue goalkeeper was shown a red card for a last-man foul but replays have since shown that Sanharib Malki, the Syrian player brought down by Kawashima, was offside.

The document speaks of a “clear misjudgment” on behalf of the referee, Mr. Torki, and asks for cancellation of Kawashima’s suspension.

The JFA’s indignation may be fueled by another refereeing error that cost Japan a goal in their recent 1-1 draw with Jordan.

New Zealand has annouced a friendly with Japan in the coming months. They will play China in the southern city of Nanning on March 25 and Japan on March 29. The venue for the Japan Football match - likely to be Tokyo - was due to be announced by the Japan Football Association at a press conference in the Japanese capital tonight.

The Japan's chief of World Cup bidding has said that the investigations over corruptions cost England the victory in the bidding. Ogura, a member of FIFA's executive committee, was quoted by Kyodo news agency Tuesday as saying there was 'no doubt' the reports 'definitely had an influence on England's bid.'

Ogura, the head of Japan's failed bid to host the 2022 World Cup said allegations by the Sunday Times newspaper and BBC had left members 'furious' and threatening to sue.

Japan is planning to go high-tech for the bidding of the World Cup. The success of that tournament proved that Japan was capable of putting on a top-rate global event, but members of FIFA's executive committee may feel the country has not waited long enough to host the World Cup again.

While Japan's modern infrastructure cannot be faulted, it may be seen as unfair to award the tournament to the country twice in the space of just 20 years when Australia and the Middle East are still waiting their turn.

Japanese football officials visited Wirral as part of cultural exchange. Sixteen executives from the country's J-League spent two days at Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park before watching the team play Peterborough United on Saturday.

On Friday the group, including senior officials from 12 teams, met manager Les Parry and watched the team train. They then visited the club's refurbished recreation centre before receiving presentations from Tranmere's Learning Centre, Youth department and Rovers in the Community.