Japan coach Takeshi Okada prepares a tough Paraguay matchup at the World Cup

Okada prepares Japan for scrappy Paraguay team

GEORGE, South Africa — After surprising the skeptics in the opening round of the World Cup, Japan coach Takeshi Okada knows he’s got a special challenge coming up.

He may have to change tactics to get the Japanese past a scrappy Paraguay team and into the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time.

Japan’s three group games were against attack-minded teams, but the match against Paraguay on Tuesday offers a different problem.

“They’re a team that knows how to play when it really counts,” Okada said. “All South American teams are not necessarily the same, but Paraguay have a very similar game to Chile. They’ve got a very solid back line, they push forward in numbers and switch quickly from defense to attack.”

The Blue Samurai surprised many by beating both Cameroon and Denmark to reach the round of 16, and a narrow 1-0 loss to the Netherlands — which won Group E — also showed how hard the Japanese are to beat.

“Since we’ve come to South Africa things have changed, it’s hard to say if it’s one specific thing,” Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi said. “Once we got our first win, we started to play better.”

Japan made it this far when it co-hosted the tournament in 2002, but reaching the quarterfinals will have even more significance if the Japanese can do it away from home.

Paraguay drew with Italy 1-1 in its opening match, and then beat Slovakia 2-0 and drew 0-0 against New Zealand.

Although Japan has excellent free kick specialists such as Keisuke Honda and Yusuhito Endo, Okada is anticipating another tight match. He will put his players through penalty drills either on Sunday or Monday in anticipation of a shootout.

Okada already seems to have briefed his players to keep their composure at all times against Paraguay.

“They will be trying everything to rile us,” Japan defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka said. “They are smart. Against New Zealand they were not taking risks and were just waiting to pounce on mistakes.”

Tanaka has shrugged off a minor back complaint after getting banged up against Denmark on Thursday and expects to face Paraguay.

Saturday’s training session in George saw the Japanese players in high spirits, with a jovial atmosphere underlining the unity in Okada’s squad, which bowed in unison to its fans at the end of the group phase like the cast of a Broadway show.

The 34-year-old Kawaguchi is appearing in his third straight World Cup and has been impressed with the togetherness shown by the players.

“Everyone is working hard together. This helps I think,” Kawaguchi said. “We have a nice group, we are talking with each other, before the training, after the training, before the match. There is a lot of communication.”