Japan's disappointing 1-0 World Cup qualifying defeat to Bahrain this week came with no foreign-based players on the field, but it was the absence of one J. League stalwart that hit the hardest.
Urawa Reds defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka was left out of Takeshi Okada's squad, and although the naturalized Brazilian has missed recent games for his club side because of injury, his national team omission looked more out of preference than necessity.
Okada deployed a three-man back line in Manama, choosing Yuki Abe and Yasuyuki Konno to play alongside Yuji Nakazawa, with the emphasis on speed and mobility rather than brute strength.