Nishino replaces dismissed Halilhodzic as Japan coach

FILE PHOTO: Akira Nishino, head coach of Japan's Gamba Osaka, watches their FIFA Club World Cup third-place playoff soccer match against Mexico's Pachuca in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan December 21, 2008. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Football Association (JFA) technical director Akira Nishino will replace Vahid Halilhodzic as head coach of the Japanese national team just two months before the World Cup finals, the JFA said on Monday.

Nishino, who spent 10 seasons in charge of Gamba Osaka and became the JFA's technical director in 2016, will have little time to prepare for the World Cup, where Japan are drawn in Group H alongside Colombia, Poland and Senegal.