Argentina want win in Japan after W' Cup failure

Argentina are determined to exorcise the ghosts of World Cup failure by beating an under-strength Japan in Saitama on Wednesday.

Japan will be without European-based trio Junichi Inamoto, Hidetoshi Nakata and Shinji Ono due to club commitments.

To make matters worse, their Brazilian coach Zico will miss what would have been his second match in charge after flying back to Brazil following the sudden death of his mother at the weekend.

It will be Argentina's first match since their shock first-round exit at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa, who kept his job despite the failure, has picked the strongest squad available and warned that his team would not treat the game as a friendly.

"This is an extremely important game for Argentina and it is crucial for us to come away with a win," he said.

Argentina have been hit by the withdrawal through injury of Spanish-based midfielders Pablo Aimar of Valencia and Juan Roman Riquelme of Barcelona.

But Bielsa insisted that nothing short of victory would do against Japan.

"The injuries to Aimar and Riquelme will not be a factor. This is a very flexible squad of players, who all work together for the good of the team," he said.

RESTORE PRIDE

While victory against Japan would hardly erase the memory of their World Cup disappointment, it would restore some pride, especially if Argentina were to win comfortably -- as they should against a weakened Japan team.

"The World Cup left a bad taste for us," striker Hernan Crespo said.

"We failed to live up to expectations and we went out embarrassingly early. Yes, a lot of things went wrong in the World Cup but this is a chance to make up for it."

Japan assistant coach Masakuni Yamamoto, meanwhile, is under no illusions about the size of the task facing the home side.

"Argentina have the same coach and players as the World Cup and they are back in the country where things went wrong for them," he said.

For Japan it could even be a case of damage limitation, he added.

"They hardly need any extra motivation after the World Cup. The start will be absolutely crucial for us. We really need to get through the first 20 minutes with conceding a goal," Yamamoto said.

Probable teams:

Japan (4-4-2): Seigo Narazaki; Nobuhisa Yamada, Yutaka Akita, Naoki Matsuda, Eisuke Nakanishi; Takashi Fukunishi, Koji Nakata, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Shunsuke Nakamura; Naohiro Takahara, Takayuki Suzuki

Argentina (3-4-3): Roberto Bonano; Walter Samuel, Roberto Ayala, Mauricio Pochettino; Kily Gonzalez, Juan Sebastian Veron, Santiago Solari, Lionel Scaloni; Hernan Crespo, Javier Saviola, Ariel Ortega