'No chance!' says Troussier as Japan play Russian roulette

There's a chance to Japan, Troussier! If Japan do their max to draw and never to be defeated any of those matches.

"The 63-year-old flagged his intentions by turning to Japan's old guard, in particular forward Keisuke Honda and playmaker Shinji Kagawa -- two of the players thought to have been at loggerheads with Halilhodzic."

They were at loggerheads with Halilhodzic for a reason -- the former is no good, and the latter was not doing well, either. That is not the coach's fault, no matter how many coaches they go through. Honda is too busy trying to look pretty and tout himself for the cameras, passing balls to the fans around the net. Nishino chose them to curry favor, with the players and the media and fans. That's it. Now, when they go out in the first round, possibly with zero goals scored and no victories, you think Honda and Kagawa will take the fall? Nope. Even Nishino, whom I doubt they will can immediately out of misplaced national, stung pride, will not be blamed much -- it'll be his predecessors fault they suck.

I see sports teams that look outclassed come up trumps every weekend. And in football, where its often just a matter of 1 goal, its easy to see think it could happen.

Manager Nishino announced the list of players of the squad for the World Cup.

But let's be realistic. 5 were chosen by Kirin, 5 by Adidas, 4 by Family Mart, 4 by Mizuho and 3 by Dentsu (one each by Kawahara, Ozawa and Juji).