The Japanese national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni has said that he is extremely delighted to be paired along with Italy in the group stages of the Confederations cup that will take place in the summer.

The 2013 Confederations cup will take place in Brazil and the draw for the group stages has recently been concluded. Japan will be part of a group that contains Mexico, Brazil, and Italy. It is undoubtedly the toughest group at this competition since it includes two former winners of the World Cup. Alberto Zaccheroni, who is an Italian, has previously expressed his interest to be coming up against his country in this tournament.

He has now been granted his wish and Zaccheroni has said that it will be a difficult moment for him because it will be the first time he will be facing Italy as an opposition manager. Even though he has always wanted to play against them, he is not sure how the emotions will be during the encounter. However, he has stressed the fact that the result is the most important thing from the match, and he hopes that Japan get the right result. The 59-year-old has said that the other three teams in the group are experienced, but Japan have been improving a lot recently due to the international exposure to the players.

“It will be my first time facing Italy – I can’t picture what it will be like. I wanted to play them at least once while I was Japan coach. I’m sure it won’t be a dull game. The important thing is get a result. The three other sides are above us in the world rankings but we’re improving. Many of our players have gained valuable experience from playing overseas and I’m very curious to see how we do in this group,” said Zaccheroni.