Yokohama F. Marinos midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura has been recalled to the Japan national fold but Jubilo Iwata midfielder Hiroshi Nanami has been excluded from the squad for next Wednesday's AFC/OFC Challenge Cup match against Oceania champion Australia at Ecopa Stadium in Shizuoka, Japan manager Philippe Troussier announced Friday in Tokyo.

Troussier explained that he has mainly picked players who played in the Confederations Cup, in which Japan was the runnerup, and the Kirin Cup, which Japan won.

The 18-member squad against Australia includes familiar faces such as Ryuzo Morioka of Shimizu S-Pulse and Toshihiro Hattori of Jubilo in defense, midfielders Hi

roaki Morishima of Cerezo Osaka and Kazuyuki Toda of S-Pulse, and Atsushi Yanagisawa of the Kashima Antlers and Masashi Nakayama of Jubilo up front.

Troussier didn't call up any overseas-based players, including Hidetoshi Nakata, in order to let them focus on their club activities.

Nakamura missed out on the Confederations Cup in May-June and the Kirin Cup in July due to his poor physical condition -- the result of a groin injury and an illness.

"I wanted Nakamura back on our squad," Troussier said. "It's a good opportunity for him to return to the squad. I was concerned with him for a while, but he has overcome the difficulties he had by himself."

Troussier then explained that he wanted to give Nanami some more time to fully recover and get fit from his physical problems.

Troussier said he was happy with the fact that more Japanese players are joining foreign clubs.

"They will get experience (with their clubs), which will help to improve the strength of our team as a unit," the French manager explained.

"They will need time to adapt to their new environment but after that they will become competitive enough to play against the top players in the world."

The Japanese team will get together on Monday for a two-day training camp in Shizuoka ahead of Wednesday night's game.

The Australian team, meanwhile, is due to arrive on Sunday morning while those players that play in Europe will join the squad at different times.

Japan squad

Goalkeepers--Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (F. Marinos), Ryota Tsuzuki (Gamba)

Defenders--Toshihiro Hattori (Jubilo), Ryuzo Morioka (S-Pulse), Yasuhiro Hato (F. Marinos), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba), Naoki Matsuda (F. Marinos), Koji Nakata (Antlers)

Midfielders--Hiroaki Morishima (Cerezo), Teruyoshi Ito (S-Pulse), Daisuke Oku (Jubilo), Kazuyuki Toda (S-Pulse), Tomokazu Myojin (Reysol), Shunsuke Nakamura (F. Marinos)

Strikers--Masashi Nakayama (Jubilo), Takayuki Suzuki (Antlers), Tatsuhiko Kubo (Sanfrecce), Atsushi Yanagisawa

Japan off to Europe

Japan manager Philippe Troussier on Friday said Friday that Japan will head for Europea from Oct. 2-10 as part of its World Cup preparations.

Japan is trying to arrange two games against African teams that Japan hasn't played. Candidates include Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

Troussier said he hopes to play a maximum of 10 international games before the World Cup.