Japan, placed 16 after France in the latest FIFA rankings, is a very strong rival to Vietnam. Its squad consists of some leading footballers who are playing for popular European clubs such as midfielder Keisuke Honda from CSKA Moscow, midfielder Shinji Kagawa from Borussia Dortmund, winger Shinji Okazaki from Stuttgart and defender Yuto Nagamoto from Inter Milan.

The team under Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni has won two successive Asian championship titles. It even beat two strong opponents, Argentina and the Republic of Korea, in the recent friendly matches.

The match with Vietnam provides the Japanese team a good chance to prepare for the third qualifying round of the 2014 World Cup, which it will be in the same group with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Uzbekistan and Syria.

The Vietnamese team under German coach Falko Goetz is highly appreciated after it defeated Qatar 2-1 in the second leg of the 2014 World Cup’s second qualifying round.

In the last match against Japan in Asian Cup 2007, Vietnam was thrashed 4-1 on its home turf.