Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert visits Matsumoto City Hall. (Matsumoto City Hall)

The 2002 FIFA World Cup will begin on May 31, and from mid-May the competing national teams have been arriving at their camp venues around Japan. A crowded fixture list of friendly matches between the participating sides and Japanese pro teams and others is drawing the crowds. Meanwhile, host nation Japan, aiming to make it to the knockout rounds, announced its squad on May 17. Players had been fighting desperately for a spot in the 23-man party in a series of friendly matches in which Japan was in good form.

Fans Enjoy Warm-Up Events
Of the 32 competing nations, 23 are basing themselves or holding training camps in Japan. Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert was the first player to arrive - on May 8 ahead of a training camp in the city of Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. As of the end of April, 28 friendly matches pitting national teams against each other or against J. League clubs were scheduled in the run-up to the tournament in Japan. Many fans are looking forward to these games as a chance to sample the World Cup atmosphere, especially those who have not been able to obtain highly prized tickets for the real thing or who live far from World Cup venues.

On May 18 Tunisia lost 2-1 to Oita Trinita of the J. League in Saiki City, Oita Prefecture, and Costa Rica beat amateur side Honda F.C. 2-1 in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture. On May 22 France will play a practice match against Urawa Red Diamonds of the J. League in Ibusuki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, site of their training camp. The game will be closely watched for clues on the form of the reigning World Cup holders. On May 25 Japan will play their last warm-up match against Scandinavian power Sweden in Tokyo. The next day, some 10 matches are scheduled all over Japan, including England vs. Cameroon in Kobe and Italy vs. Kashima Antlers of the J. League.

Players on Tenterhooks
Host Japan has been playing well since the beginning of the year, winning friendlies against Ukraine (1-0) and Poland (2-0) in March and drawing 1-1 with Costa Rica and beating Slovakia 1-0 in April. After a 3-3 draw with Honduras on May 2, the team left for a tour of Europe, during which it lost 1-0 to top Spanish club Real Madrid on May 7 and will play Norway on May 14. The World Cup squad was announced on May 17, the day after the players returned to Japan. The final deadline for registering squad members is May 21. Newspapers and TV reports had been full of speculation over which players will be putting on the blue Japanese uniform, a sign of the frenzied media coverage that is sure to accompany the event.

Japan's World Cup Squad
GK   Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Portsmouth)
        Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight)
        Hitoshi Sogahata (Kashima Antlers)
DF   Yutaka Akita (Kashima Antlers)
        Toshihiro Hattori (Júbilo Iwata)
        Ryuzo Morioka (Shimizu S-Pulse)
        Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka)
        Naoki Matsuda (Yokohama F. Marinos)
        Koji Nakata (Kashima Antlers)
MF   Hiroaki Morishima (Cerezo Osaka)
        Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma)
        Takashi Fukunishi (Júbilo Iwata)
        Alessandro dos Santos (Shimizu S-Pulse)
        Kazuyuki Toda (Shimizu S-Pulse)
        Tomokazu Myojin (Kashiwa Reysol)
        Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima Antlers)
        Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal)
        Shinji Ono (Feyenoord)
        Daisuke Ichikawa (Shimizu S-Pulse)
FW   Masashi Nakayama (Júbilo Iwata)
        Takayuki Suzuki (Kashima Antlers)
        Akinori Nishizawa (Cerezo Osaka)
        Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima Antlers)