A B C D
E F G H
Argentina: Look out, Japan
TOKYO (AP) -- An Argentine referee working for Japan's professional J-League has a warning for the Japanese team, which faces Argentina at the World Cup."There is a big gap in ability between soccer in Japan and Argentina," Anibal Guillermo Hay said today.
The entire Japanese national team, headed to their first World Cup, is made up of J-League players.
At a news conference at the J-League office, Hay praised midfielder Shinji Ono, the 18-year-old star rookie for the Urawa Red Diamonds.
But the compliment he used was that Ono, who displays dribbling flash, "doesn't play like a Japanese."
When one reporter jokingly asked him if he was sending insider information on the Japanese team back home, Hay said with a laugh: "Rather than hiring a spy, it'd be cheaper to just watch the games on satellite."
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GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan