Unfriendly gesture: Argentina in a fix over warm-up matches

It said one game could take place tomorrow behind closed doors at Argentina’s training camp while two others could be next Tuesday — one for coach Marcelo Bielsa’s probable starting line-up, the other for the reserves. In the run-up to the World Cup, Argentine officials also had difficulties fixing up friendlies.

The reason? Other teams competing at the World Cup were too scared of playing Argentina, fearful of being on the receiving end of a heavy defeat, they said. Home advantage: Japan lost all three of its games in the ’98 World Cup — its only World Cup appearance — but the co-hosts are expecting much more this time. French coach Philippe Troussier’s team will have home advantage with its June 4 opener against Belgium in Saitama its first major test. ‘‘Mission: Not impossible,’’ is how the headline read in today’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper with Troussier talking up his team’s chances. ‘‘With all the support and love that there is for the team there is no reason we cannot express ourselves.’’ Shunichiro Okano, president of Japan Football Association said all of the country was behind the team, which is widely considered the best in Asia.

‘‘The whole country is waiting in anticipation for this team to make history,’’ he said. ‘‘And I believe it will.’’

In Group H, Japan also plays Russia on June 9 in Yokohama and Tunisia on June 14 in Osaka. Coach Marcelo Bielsa said that Gabriel Batistuta will wear the No. 9 shirt, fueling speculation that the AS Roma striker may have won the battle with Hernan Crespo to lead the attack. Bielsa revealed his final 23-man squad at the team’s training camp. But the list ends with the No. 24 shirt — to be worn by goalkeeper Roberto Bonano — as a result of Diego Maradona’s No. 10 being definitively consigned to history in homage to the midfield legend.