As I write this article sitting in Japan, the focus is on the task at hand, that is, guiding the Indian teenagers through the AFC Under-17 Championship. But that doesn’t mean I’m oblivious of what is happening back home. Japan and India will kick off their World Cup qualifier at the Salt Lake Stadium in a few hours’ time and I am just as curious to find out how the ball rolls as all of you surely are.

Let’s get something clear at the outset. There is no scope for doubt that the Japanese are a stronger outfit than India. A mere look at the Fifa world rankings (Japan 18, India 138) confirms the story which we all know. A fabulous performance in the 2002 World Cup forced the world to view Japanese football with a fresh pair of eyes. The recent Asian Cup conquest in China only added to their stature.

But I am not one to get overawed by their big deeds simply because I believe no Asian team is invincible. Just as I am aware of their best results, I also know that the Japanese have been quite inconsistent in the past few months. They struggled to beat Singapore in the World Cup qualifiers and Singapore is a team we overcame.

Against Oman at home, they won by the thinnest possible margin. And in last month’s Athens Olympics, Japan failed to go beyond the group league stage. Though the Olympic squad, made up mostly of under-23 players, was under a different coach, they did have a handful of senior team members. It was the same for all participating nations and did give an indication as to who stood where.

The squad Japan have taken to Calcutta has some versatile players like Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Koji Nakata, Shinji Ono, Takayuki Suzuki and Naohiro Takahara who have formed the nucleus of the national team for the past four-five years along with Junichi Inamoto and Hidetoshi Nakata. The last two names are, currently, out of reckoning because of injuries and Shunsuke Nakamura pulled out at the eleventh hour. So this is certainly not the strongest Japanese team.

If Constantine employs the right strategy and his boys can implement it on the field, there’s no reason why we can’t give Japan a run for their money. A draw, if not a win, is achievable provided we get the basics right. The ground is ours, the crowd will be rooting for us, why can’t the coach and players take advantage of the conditions?

I haven’t forgotten the 0-7 drubbing we got from this same team three months ago in Saitama, but I would like to believe that was a real bad day in office. Our team is not that poorly off and the players must have taken that result off their heads by now.

So what needs to be done to get a decent result against Japan at the Salt Lake Stadium? First and foremost, get the mental make-up right. I am sure the coach has drilled into the boys’ heads not to feel inferior. No way should we be walking out on to the field a beaten team. The Japanese have got some good players but they don’t have a Desailly or a Zidane or a Ronaldo. In fact, the biggest star in the Japanese ranks is a gentleman who answers to the name of Zico. And thank God he won’t be playing.

We must keep in mind that the Japanese are a very disciplined race, they are no different when it comes to soccer. They are very adept with dead-ball situations, our defenders will have to take extra care when the Japanese take a corner-kick, free-kick or even throw-ins.

In Mahesh Gawli, Dipak Mondal and Debjit Ghosh, we have the personnel capable of tackling Japanese threats. The goalkeeper will have an important role to play. I hope whoever between Sandip Nandy and Sangram Mukherjee is chosen, rises to the occasion.

The stress has to be on defence, at least in the first part of the match. And when a team plays with a defensive strategy, counter-attacks become very important. We must try and take the opportunity to move up fast in counters to try and catch the Japanese off-guard.

Our biggest star Bhaichung Bhutia is not available and that is a disadvantage. But I feel that can be more of a mental blow rather than a body-blow. Bhaichung is dangerous inside the box, I don’t think he would have got too many free balls in the danger zone anyway. Someone like I.M. Vijayan would have been more acutely missed, had he been still around but not available. My advice to the team would be simple: treat this game as any other international and follow the coach’s instructions to the T.

Till the seventies, we used to beat Japan regularly. Then the tide turned and in the last 30 years, India have lost all five games they played against Japan. Maybe, Salt Lake Stadium will see the rise of a new dawn.