National team manager Alberto Zaccheroni is confident his side can shape up in time for the World Cup but admits the Blue Samurai are currently running on empty.
Japan beat Cyprus 1-0 on Tuesday night in its final home game before heading to Florida for a pre-World Cup training camp, with further friendlies against Costa Rica and Zambia to come before the campaign begins for real against Cote d'Ivoire on June 14.
Zaccheroni gave a run out to three players — goalscorer Atsuto Uchida, captain Makoto Hasebe and defender Maya Yoshida — who are returning from long injury layoffs, and the manager acknowledged that his team was "not yet up to World Cup speed" after a week of gruelling conditioning work in Kagoshima Prefecture.