Witch doctor weaves his spell

Meanwhile, Troussier unexpectedly named veteran players Masashi Nakayama and Yutaka Akita in his 23-man squad for the World Cup on Friday.

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Portsmouth), Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya), Hitoshi Sogahata (Kashima)
Defenders: Yutaka Akita (Kashima), Ryuzo Morioka (Shimizu), Toshihiro Hattori (Iwata), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka), Naoki Matsuda (Yokohama), Koji Nakata (Kashima)
Mid-fielders: Hiroaki Morishima (Cerezo Osaka), Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma), Takashi Fukunishi (Iwata), Alessandro Santos (Shimizu), Kazuyuki Toda (Shimizu), Tomokazu Myojin (Kashiwa), Mituso Ogasawara (Kashima), Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal), Shinji Ono (Feyenoord), Daisuke Ichikawa (Shimizu)
Forwards: Takayuki Suzuki (Kashima), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima), Akinori Nishizawa (Cerezo Osaka), Masashi Nakayama (Iwata)

The Think-tank (Group B)

Luiz felipe scolari (Brazil) : Win or lose, Scolari will have gone through the wars by the time July comes around this year, signalling the end of the greatest footballing show on earth. Brazil, going for a record fifth World title, partied for six months after their 1994 win and mourned for a similar period after their final loss four years later. Scolari’s decision to drop Romario as well as the physical nature of the current side, as against the beautiful game embodied by their 1970 title-winning team, has earned him detractors.

Bora milutinovic (china): The vastly-experienced Yugoslav who has become a national hero in China will be leading out a record-breaking fith team at a World Cup finals this summer. Milutinovic previously guided Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, the USA four years later and Nigeria in 1998. All the teams reached the second round, with Mexico even getting to the quarter-finals. Nonetheless, the former Partizan Belgrade and as Monaco player was on the verge of being sacked when early results in the qualifying campaign were less spectacular than Chinese bosses hoped.

Alexandre Guimaraes (Costa rica): Costa Rica’s last and only foray at the World Cup in 1990 saw them into the second round and that is the aim of coach Alexandre Guimares in this year’s event. Only one defeat in 11 CONCACAF qualifiers meant Costa Rica became one of the surprise qualifiers in the 32-team field. Brazil-born Guimares is not a big name outside his native country but the impact of successful results has created a reputation which will have preceded him by the time he steps out in the Far East.

Senol Gunes (Turkey): A former top goalkeeper with Trabzonspor and the Turkish national side, Gunes has coached Turkey to the World Cup finals to continue the ascendancy of the nation’s football in the last couple of years. Galatasaray’s UEFA Cup win in 2000 was followed just weeks later by Turkey qualifying for the quarter-finals of the European Championships for the first time. Gunes was appointed later that summer and once the country’s fans and players had a taste of good things, they were unlikely to tolerate anything less than an apperance and Gunes did what matters most in all walks of life — he delivered.