New national soccer team manager Akira Nishino believes Japan is capable of making an impact at this summer's World Cup despite taking over just two months before the tournament begins.
"If the players perform as they are capable of doing and come together as a team, they can give us something extra," Nishino, who was appointed to lead Japan at the World Cup in Russia on Monday after the Japan Football Association sensationally fired manager Vahid Halilhodzic two days earlier, told reporters on Thursday in his first media appearance since taking the job.
"I want to get results. It's the World Cup, so I want us to show that we are good enough to get to the knockout round. But first of all I want the players to perform in the way that they are capable of. I want to bring that out of them.