BY SEAN A WILLIAMS

Assistant Sport Editor

NIIGATA, Japan — It is hoped that Reggae Boyz head coach Winfried Schaefer had a restful sleep last night.

For since leaving Jamaica and arriving here in Japan he has had many things on his mind. Among them, the German has had to be grappling with not having key players for the friendly match against the host Japan at the 42,000-capacity Denka Big Swan Stadium here tonight at 7:25 pm (5:25 am Jamaica time).

But that’s not all. Schaefer was also having conflict on his defensive make-up after the late withdrawal of Crystal Palace ace Adrian Mariappa threw the wrench in his plans. Also, the unavailability of former Leeds United captain, midfielder Rodolph Austin, forced Schaefer to get creative, and fast.

And his concerns ahead of the clash with 48th-ranked Japan have not stopped there. He is clearly troubled by the short recovery time of players after gruelling trans-Pacific flights into Japan.

With the pain clearly etched on his face, he did not hold back when he bemoaned the measly 60 minutes of “light training” he got with the group yesterday evening. The players, some travelling from Monday, got into Niigata only on Wednesday.

Japan, who will be challenging the Jamaicans for the Kirin Cup, were assembled from Monday, with all players hitting the training ground on Tuesday for a full session. They then had two more.

When all of that is put together, it’s clear that Jamaica will go into this match with a distinct disadvantage. Therefore, Schaefer’s concerns and worries may well be justified.

“Normally when you go into practice matches, like Canada and Japan, which is preparation for the Caribbean Cup, I want my players in advance…Japan is the best team in Asia, and we need all our players in time so we can work on tactics, free kicks, corners and work out what system is best to play,” the German told the Jamaica Observer.

“It’s ideal to have three days’ training before a match to work on tactics and standard situations, but that was not possible as the players are tired from the long flight. I hope the players can now get themselves psychologically ready because they will need to be,” Schaefer added.

The former Cameroon coach warned that an embarrassing defeat can only be avoided if the Jamaicans can keep their concentration and maintain high fitness levels throughout the game.

“It’s very important that the players have to concentrate for this match… what we need against Japan is 90 minutes’ concentration and accurate football. Also, we have to be very aggressive in this match. It’s going to be a very tough match, and if we don’t have every player 100 per cent fit, then we cannot win the match,” he said.

After mulling over it, and then practising it in training yesterday, it would seem that the coach will stick with his 3-5-2 formation even with Mariappa and Austin out of the equation.

When Schaefer spoke with the Observer after training, he had not decided whether he would go with Dwayne Miller or Ryan Thompson in goal. But he was sure that Nyron Nosworthy, captain Wes Morgan and Jermaine Taylor would marshal centre of defence, while Alvas Powell would play a wide right midfield position, with Kemar Lawrence operating in the corresponding role on the other side.

Je-Vaughn Watson and Nicholy Finlayson have squeezed into the middle, with Joel Grant ahead of them in a more attacking role. England-based Jamar Loza’s job is safe as one of two strikers, but that other position is not that clear-cut as there is a toss-up between the prodigal Dane Richards and Darren Mattocks.

Meanwhile, Japan’s new coach, Mexican Javier Aguirre, will be looking for his first win since taking the reins in the wake of the departure of Italian Alberto Zaccheroni, a casualty of Japan’s disastrous Brazil World Cup campaign.

“I am going to look for my first win as the Japan coach against Jamaica here. And we want to develop our performance. That is especially the case for our defence, but we have got to have better combinations offensively as well,” he said at a press conference here.

When quizzed about the 100th-ranked Jamaica and the quality within their ranks, even with the Boyz’ poor record coming into the match, Aguirre conceded he expected a “tough match”, but was still confident that his team should pull off the win.

“I know them very well, yet I want my team to stick to playing their own game. It’s going to be a difficult game, but with the supporters on our back, we can win. It’s not going to be an easy game for us, but we want to overcome the adversary,” said the former Mexico head coach.

The Japanese, with many players in top European clubs, will be fortunate to have on their team AC Milan forward Keisuke Honda, midfielder Junga Tanaka of Sporting Lisbon and FSV Mainz forward Shinji Okazaki.

At the Brazil World Cup, Japan finished at the bottom of Group C after defeats to Ivory Coast (1-2) and Colombia (1-4), with their only point coming from a goalless draw with Greece.

Meanwhile, Japan and Jamaica met on three previous occasions, with Jamaica winning the only competitive match during the France World Cup 1998, when football folk hero Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore struck both goals in a 2-1 victory.

In the other meetings between both nations, Japan won 4-0 in 2000 in the King Hassan Cup in Morocco, and they then ended 1-1 two years later in a friendly in Tokyo.

While Japan is Jamaica’s final warm-up match ahead of the Caribbean Cup slated for Montego Bay November 10-18, the Asians’ next assignment is a friendly against five-time World Cup champions Brazil in Singapore on Sunday.

Pressure is on Jamaica to win the Caribbean Cup as hosts, a victory that would see them earn automatic berths to the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2015 and the CONMEBOL Copa America Centennial Cup in 2016.

Already, the Boyz have been invited as a guest team to participate in the Copa America in 2015 in Chile.