WHOAH!

So I'm missing Japan's Kirin Cup clash with Montengro at Ecopa Stadium on June 1 because I'm going to Tokyo to see New York Hardcore legends Sick Of It All instead. I'll have to tune into the match with a bunch of rowdy FC Tokyo fans at Footnik Pub in Shibuya, and I bet they won't be the only ones annoyed with Japan coach Ivica Osim's team selection.

In the past Osim has claimed that selecting European-based players "disrupts the squad." Perhaps he has a point, but when those players include the likes of Shunsuke Nakamura from Celtic and Eintracht Frankfurt striker Naohiro Takahara, could he really afford not to call those players up? When Japan beat Saudi Arabia in their final Asian Cup qualifier last November, Nakamura was holidaying in Japan anyway!

As it is, Nakamura, Takahara and FC Basel midfielder Koji Nakata have all been given call-ups for the Kirin Cup, but new Frankfurt signing Junichi Inamoto and wantaway Le Mans winger Daisuke Matsui have been overlooked. Those exclusions are not necessarily that surprising - especially since so many Japanese players have demonstrated that simply playing in Europe doesn't necessarily make one a good player, but it seems strange not to have called up Inamoto in particular, with the combative midfielder having been a virtual ever-present for Galatasaray this season.

Still, that won't be what has put a bee in Japan fans' bonnets. No, instead it is the fact that Ivica Osim has selected five JEF United players in his squad that has Japan fans scratching their heads. Or not scratching their heads - depending on how cynical those fans are. You see, JEF United are coached by none other than Ivica Osim's son! More importantly, the Chiba club are currently stuck in the relegation zone. How a team scrapping it out with the likes of Yokohama FC and Omiya Ardija at the foot of the J-League can have five international call-up's is anyone's guess.

Yet there are still fishier things afoot with Osim's squad. Although JEF United striker Seiichiro Maki has scored just one league goal this season - and that was an own goal according to everybody but the J-League, he still gets the nod up front alongside Takahara. This is despite the fact that Kawasaki Frontale striker Kazuki Ganaha scored three goals during the Asian Cup qualifying campaign. Yet Ganaha has been overlooked! What the? Meanwhile Gamba Osaka striker Ryuji Bando has lost his place in the Gamba line-up to ex-Ventforet Kofu striker Bare, yet Bando has still been named in Japan's Kirin Cup squad.

Another player overlooked is Yokohama F. Marinos' talismanic midfielder Koji Yamase. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if there's one thing that Japan could use more of it is midfield creativity, if for no other reason than to take some of the pressure of Shunsuke Nakamura. Instead the squad is full of midfield grafters like Hideo Hashimoto and Yasuhito Endo, or players that aren't even first choice starting midfielders at their clubs, like Akihiro Ienaga, Yasuyuki Konno and Yuki Abe. Sure Japan have some promising youngsters - and JEF United's Koki Mizuno is one United player who deserves to be there, along with the likes of Shimizu's Jungo Fujimoto and Kawasaki's Kengo Nakamura, but Osim's team seems to smack of a man who has hardly seen any Japanese players in action.

It will be interesting to see if the likes of Hiroshima's Yuichi Komano and Nagoya's Keisuke Honda receive some game time during this Kirin Cup, or if the starting eleven will indeed by comprised of players from the axis of evil - Urawa, Gamba Osaka and...JEF United. Still, I won't be there to see it. Sick Of It All on the Thursday, pub food on the Friday and Magma Fest on the Saturday. It's a tough life, but somebody's gotta live it!