Japan has to toughen up, says J-League boss

Japan must kick its obsession with style over substance to avoid being left behind by other countries, J-League boss Mitsuru Murai told AFP before the weekend start of the domestic season. Gamba Osaka will be the team to beat when the J-League kicks off on Saturday after winning the treble last year, flexing their muscles by beating fierce rivals Urawa Reds 2-0 in the curtain-raising Super Cup last weekend. But as Japan's national side lurches from one crisis to the next, Murai acknowledged that world football had developed at a staggering pace over the past 20 years and called on clubs to "toughen up" for the benefit of the Blue Samurai. "Japan has reached five straight World Cups and the J-League has played a big role in raising the level of the game," Murai said in an interview. "Japan had never qualified before the J-League arrived. "But at last year's World Cup in Brazil and again with Japan coming up short at the Asian Cup, we've seen how the world game has improved at an incredible rate. "I hope to see the J-League become tougher, quicker and more aggressive to help raise the level of the Japan national team." Holders Japan were ambushed by the United Arab Emirates at the Asian Cup in January, crashing out on penalties in the quarter-finals before sacking coach Javier Aguirre over his alleged involvement in a match-fixing scandal. Hosts Australia beat South Korea in a pulsating final, but Murai insisted Japan had the quality to reclaim their crown as Asia's best, despite a poor start by Japanese teams in this season's Asian Champions League. "I definitely don't think Japan stacks up unfavourably with Australia or South Korea," he said. "We need to be stronger, physically and mentally, tougher in terms of physical contact -- the J-League needs to become that kind of league." - Stubborn refusal - Vahid Halilhodzic, Algeria's coach at the 2014 World Cup, looks set to take charge of Japan and Gamba's prolific striker Takashi Usami will be on the Bosnian's radar after a clinical goal in the Super Cup underlined the folly of Aguirre's stubborn refusal to select him. "Usami scored a lot of goals after coming back from an injury last year," Murai said of the former Bayern Munich forward. "Hopefully he can reproduce that form and we can see him playing for Japan." Gamba's fairytale season was all the more remarkable as the former Asian champions had spent 2013 in Japan's second tier. They won their second championship by one point from Urawa, while seven-time champions Kashima Antlers finished third. Few would bet against the top three again this year as the J-League reverts to a two-stage format for the first time since 2004. Shonan Bellmare, Matsumoto Yamaga and Montedio Yamagata will have more modest goals after winning promotion. Murai admitted the J-League faced competition from China and Major League Soccer, although he called the exodus of players such as Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura and more recently Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda an "honour" for the country. "We're seeing a trend of players moving to America and China," he said. "The financial rewards are a little higher there, so we need to do more to bring in star players." But Murai insisted that Japan would soon reap the rewards of the J-League, a generation after its launch in 1993. "As the ratio of players moving to Europe rises, the J-League is playing a direct role in the evolution of the Japan team," he said. "But players like FC Tokyo's (Yoshinori) Muto and Kashima's (Gaku) Shibasaki are making their mark in the national side. It's the J-league's mission to nurture talent like this."