By David Gold
April 14 – Japan could be set to reverse its decision to withdraw from the Copa America after the country’s J-League backed the national team’s trip to compete in the tournament this summer.
The Copa America is set to take place in July, but Japan withdrew as a result of being forced to reschedule league games for that month after the devastating earthquake and tsunami which hit the country last month.
Both the J-League and Japanese Football Association attached a caveat to their approval for travelling to Argentina, which is that CONMEBOL, the South American Football Federation, negotiates the release of the country’s European based players for the competition.
It is not compulsory for clubs to release players for the tournament, and some of the country’s top stars, such as Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow and Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa, are plying their trade in Europe.
President of the Japanese Football Association Junji Ogura asked for cooperation from the J-League before its Executive Committee meeting.
“The J1 executive committee decided today to support Japan’s participation at the Copa America,” J-League general secretary Daisuke Nakatani confirmed.
“It was a conclusion drawn by the league as a whole.
“Our condition for the national team’s participation in the Copa America is that a certain number of players from overseas must make up the team.
Technical director Haromi Hara added: “After the upcoming board meeting, we will submit to CONMEBOL a list of the players we need and they will take it from there.
“CONMEBOL has told us they would take full responsibility in negotiating the release of the players through FIFA.”
It was not confirmed specifically how many of the players would need to be from Europe.
Ogura has already told Argentina’s FIFA senior vice -resident Julio Grondona that Japan could not participate in the competition without their European-based stars.
And Hara has been in regular contact with national team coach Alberto Zaccheroni by phone, and they concluded some J-League players would be required for the tournament.
Japan will compete alongside Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia in the first round of the competition.
Hara also said: “They (CONMEBOL) said not to worry, that they would get the clubs to release the players.
“We explained to Argentina what the J-League was like in July, and they understood.”
Should Japan decide not to participate, their place could go to world champions Spain.
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