Japan have been given a great prospect of getting into the knockout stages of the World Cup after being drawn into a group containing Ivory Coast, Columbia, and Greece. This is seen as a great opportunity for manager Alberto Zaccheroni to make himself a legend around these parts.

The manager has been talking in length about the possibility of including former greats like Shunsuke Nakamura into the squad. The former Celtic star is currently playing in Japan after his days at the top appear to have come down.

Despite this, Zaccheroni considers Nakamura has an important member of the squad and as someone will be able to provide immense experience and quality despite his age.

The 35-year-old, who has made 98 appearances for the national team in a career that lasted from 2000 to 2010, says that he is unlikely to return to international football. He is the current holder of the Player of the Year award in the J-League. Nakamura recently said that he is undoubtedly going through the best spell of his career in recent times, but it has been because of the concentration and work he has been putting into his time at Yokohama F. Marinos.

He feels that he may not be able to do the same with the Japanese national team after all these years.

“At that time (when I retired from the national team) I was struggling and the only way to restore myself was by focusing on Yokohama F. Marinos. Just the fact that people are saying that (they want me to return to the national team) makes me happy, but I am done. As a player I want a beautiful finish to my career,” said Nakamura. Japan did extremely well in the previous World Cup, as they reached the knockout stages – the first time for an Asian country.

Japan’s national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni has claimed that he wants the national team to do well at the World Cup 2014.

Even though Japan go into the tournament as one of the strongest teams from the Asian region, they are not expected to fight for the title. European nations like Spain and Germany along with South American teams like Brazil and Argentina have been regarded as the favourites for the competition. Zaccheroni, whose Japanese team will be playing Colombia, Greece, and Ivory Coast in the group stages, thinks that they can do well at this tournament.

Japan were reasonably good during the recent 2013 Confederations cup and Zaccheroni believes that this experience helps the team a lot. The Italian is one of the several foreign managers in the Asian region, but he believes that he has managed to adapt to the culture in his time in Japan. Zaccheroni says that he has not tried to curb the enthusiasm of the Japanese players, who are natural dreamers according to him. This is helping him mould the team according to the Japanese culture.

Zaccheroni was linked with a return to European club football in the last few months. Lazio were interested in his services, but it seems that he will be with the Japanese national team until the World Cup.

“Confederations Cup gave us a chance to see the distances involved, the climate and humidity, and to see where we are in footballing terms, the things we need to work on. As for the World Cup itself, it will be a great experience for Japan to play in Brazil. The Japanese really admire Brazilian football and we all want to create a good impression. Most of the pressure on us comes from the Japan fans, who expect a lot of the team. What it does is just motivate us even more,” said Zaccheroni.