England play their final warm-up game before the World Cup against Japan in Graz on Sunday. After the mixed performance in Monday’s game with Mexico, the speculation is that the Italian will send out his preferred eleven.

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At least one will be missing though because Gareth Barry has not recovered from his ankle injury- and may not make it to South Africa at all. The absence of the Manchester City man- and the long-term problems of Owen Hargreaves- has left a midfield conundrum.

Very few teams have success at the highest level without a defensively-minded central midfielder. As a former defender, Barry converted to the role with England when Hargreaves fell out of contention. Without either man, Capello has a big problem.

Michael Carrick is out of form and Tom Huddlestone and Scott Parker are both very inexperienced at international level. James Milner looked uncomfortable there against a slick Mexico and the Steven Gerrard- Frank Lampard pairing has never really gelled.

There are cases of players suddenly propelled into a major tournament from nowhere and Parker might just get a chance to play himself in on Sunday alongside Lampard, with Gerrard retaining his roving role.

Outside central midfield, fans will be eager to see if Theo Walcott or Aaron Lennon starts on the right. Ashley Cole and John Terry should return to the defence and the other questions are who supports Wayne Rooney up front and who gets the nod in goal.

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Robert Green did himself no harm against Mexico but David James and the youthful Joe Hart both have greater presence in the nets.

Japan are unlikely to be as testing as Mexico, although they are always well-organised and play at a formidably high tempo. They have made it to the World Cup Finals again and soccer continues to improve in Asia. Japan have twice played in England in friendlies and managed a 1-1 result in 2004.
England will go into the match as hot favourites but much depends on the side that the manager selects. It is still possible that experimentation will be the order of the day, offering an opportunity to Japan.

Their last two outings have been none too impressive though, losing to Serbia by three goals and going down 2-0 to South Korea. England should be able to post a victory but it will be the manner of the performance that really matters.

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Takeshi Okada caused a shock by handing the 34-year-old former Portsmouth keeper a recall to the squad as the third-choice goalkeeper.

Kawaguchi played for Japan in their opening World Cup fixture 12 years ago in France, and was the squad’s first choice four years ago in Germany.

But he was rarely mentioned in the lead-up to the squad announcement, after being out of action since last season.

He broke his right shin last season when playing for Jubilo Iwata in the J-League, and only recently returned to full training.

However, he has been included as one of three keepers along with Kawasaki Frontale’s Eiji Kawashima and Nagoya Grampus’ Seigo Narazaki, who will be making their fourth World Cup appearances.

Okada said: “The third-choice goalkeeper is a very difficult position for Kawaguchi but I feel the team needs his presence and leadership and that is why I picked him.

“He lost his regular place on the national team, and I had a chat with him and asked him if he could accept being a sub.

“I have been watching him since I dropped him altogether, to see how he would play.

“Before he got injured I thought if he could put up with being third-choice keeper and keep aiming just to be in the national team that I might take him.

“I feel he has become stronger mentally during what has been a tough period for him and that, in the end, is why I put him in the squad.”

There were few other surprises in the squad announced before the media, with CSKA Moscow star Keisuke Honda and fellow European-based midfielders Daisuke Matsui and Makoto Hasebe selected along with former Celtic playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura and Shimizu S-Pulse striker Shinji Okazaki.

“I had a tough time with every position in the team,” said Okada. “I have picked players that are aggressive in both attack and defence so that Japan can win games at the World Cup.”

He believes his squad is capable of reaching the semi finals and said: “I haven’t changed the objective. In order to make that come true, however, we first have to get through the group stage and our first match against Cameroon will be the most important to us.” Japan are 21/10 to beat Cameroon, whilst the draw is 9/4. Cameroon are 6/5 to win.

Japan will get together on May 21 and play their 2002 tournament co-hosts South Korea in Saitama three days later, before heading off for a training camp in Switzerland. Japan are 125/1 to win the World Cup.

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