DALLAS, June 13 (Reuters) - Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu knows his side face a battle to get through a challenging group if the Samurai Blue are to deliver on his dream of going into uncharted territory at the World Cup.
The Japanese kick off their Group F campaign against the Netherlands in Dallas on Sunday with Moriyasu sounding a cautious tone despite having previously set his sights on a place in the latter stages of the competition.
"We have to survive this stage no matter what, but at the same time I see that it is a very tough group," said Moriyasu, who took Japan into the last 16 at the finals in Qatar. "The top of the top talent is found in the Netherlands team.
"In terms of the actual matches, any team from this group could win. Tunisia had clean sheets coming through the qualifiers and Sweden have top level players as well, top level strikers.
"So we don't know who is going to survive from this group. It's really hard to predict."
Japan have never won a game in the knockout phase of the World Cup, losing on each of their four previous appearances in the last 16, and Moriyasu's side go into the finals without influential captain Wataru Endo.
The Liverpool midfielder played 45 minutes of Japan's most recent friendly against Iceland but Moriyasu revealed it was his decision not to retain the 33-year-old in his squad, calling up forward Shuto Machino in his place.
"When I communicated the message to Wataru, the reaction I received from him was different to what I imagined," said Moriyasu. "It felt bad to give him such a message.
"Of course Wataru was hurt but his family members and everyone he loves understood. I fully understand such a message would hurt them deeply and I'd really like to apologise sincerely to them personally."
Ajax Amsterdam defender Ko Itakura will take over as captain with Moriyasu confident his team retain enough leadership within their ranks to mitigate the loss of the experienced Endo, who played 73 times for Japan.
"The reason I asked Itakura to take over was because he is someone who has been putting effort into fighting together on the pitch and off the pitch," said Moriyasu.
"He understands fully what I have been preaching to the team. He realises what has been communicated.
"He can communicate with each individual player and there's a lot of expectation from him in terms of the teamwork. So Itakura is the captain.
"That said, each and every player in the squad is very professional and they can all work for the team collectively and they all have the leadership spirit. It was difficult for me to make that decision to decide one leader as the captain."
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Ken Ferris)
