Osim's strikerless 12 man call-up causes concern

Japan national men's football coach Ivica Osim has triggered concerns by his bare-bones squad of 12 players - and not one striker - for the 22 August friendly against Cameroon. "I don't think a half-baked selection is necessarily a good thing," Japan Football Association technical director Kozo Tajima reportedly commented. Osim responded cryptically to questions about why he opted not to include a single striker in his provisional squad. "We'll see what happens in the J-League games," he said, jabbing his ball-point pen at his inquisitors. "Scoring goals is important but we have to think of other things too."