Honda fit and ready for Brazil friendly test

WROCLAW, Poland — Japan midfielder Keisuke Honda is ready to roll against Brazil after the CSKA Moscow man finally took part in full-blown training on Sunday.

Honda remained rooted to the bench in Friday's 1-0 victory over France, nursing a bruised right calf that he picked up while playing for CSKA just before the international week.

But Honda, arguably coach Alberto Zaccheroni's most trusted and tried player, and who has served as the focal point of the Japanese attack, trained with the team during a closed session upon arriving in Poland for Tuesday's friendly versus the five-time World Cup winner.

"We couldn't have had a worse first half," Honda said. "The result was too good to be true."

"Our performance was just acceptable, nothing more. I was watching and I thought we were intimidated by them in the first half. If all we want to do is reach the quarterfinals at the next World Cup, then yesterday's game will do.

"But this Japan team, we're capable of a lot more."

While Japan recorded its first-ever win over Les Bleus through a very late goal by Shinji Kagawa, the Asian champions could surely use Honda against Brazil, after failing to click for large phases of the game.

Had it not been for goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima's man-of-the-match caliber performance, there was a chance Japan could have been embarrassed by France — just like 11 years ago when it was humbled 5-0 at the Stade de France under Philippe Troussier.

Japan was without Honda as well as first-choice attacking players Ryoichi Maeda and Shinji Okazaki, and had to cope with an out-of-shape captain Makoto Hasebe, whose lack of playing time for his club (zero appearances this season for Wolfsburg) must be a growing concern for Zaccheroni.

But the consensus among the team is that Japan still should have performed better.

"What we have been saying amongst us players is that we should have seen way more time on the ball," Manchester United playmaker Kagawa said. "We're capable of doing more from a technical, tactical standpoint.

"We should have shown what we can do right from the first half. When you stop to think about it, we didn't accomplish a great deal on the pitch apart from the result."

Japan has never beaten Brazil in eight previous meetings, and the most recent one did not end well. The Brazilians at that time hammered Zico's Japan 4-1 in the last group game of the 2006 World Cup.

"I think you have to look at how far we've come as a team," said Zaccheroni, who took over for Takeshi Okada after the 2010 World Cup and led Japan to a record fourth continental title in January 2011.

"We haven't had too many games where we didn't score so I think we're improving on that front. And we also don't concede that often, either. We've become a very balanced team.

"Up until now, most of our matches were against Asian sides. But the purpose of this trip is to see how we stack up against the world's best teams and we will play another one on Tuesday."

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Kaka returns as Brazil thrashes Zico's Iraq

MALMO, Sweden — Kaka scored on his return to international soccer after an absence of more than two years, leading Brazil to a 6-0 win over Iraq in an international friendly Thursday in Sweden.

The Real Madrid midfielder, who last played an international when Brazil was beaten in the quarterfinals at the 2010 World Cup by the Netherlands, added the third goal in the 47th minute at Swebank Stadium.

Chelsea playmaker Oscar scored twice and there were also goals from Hulk, Neymar and Lucas.

"We did well. We scored six goals, that says it all," Brazil coach Mano Menezes said, adding that Iraq goalkeeper Noor Sabri "was one of the best players tonight, he made some fabulous saves."

Oscar scored in the 21st minute after a lovely through ball from Neymar and then made it 2-0 five minutes later.

Goals in the 59th from Hulk, 75th from Neymar and 79th from Lucas completed the emphatic victory.

Iraq rarely threatened, with only Younis Mahmood twice going close in the second half and Humadi Ahmad causing concern for goalkeeper Diego Alves in added time.

Zico, the Brazilian great who is now Iraq's coach, substituted five players in the second half in an attempt to lift his team. But his decision to remove the experienced Mahmoud surprised the largely Iraq-supporting crowd.

"If we had lost 6-0 to Iceland I would have been worried, but losing to Brazil was not a problem," Zico said.

The sound of drums — not samba, but Arabic — dominated the stadium in Sweden's third largest city. More than 14,000 tickets were sold for a friendly that was mostly attended by Iraqis living in the Scandinavian country.

Malmo is one of its most ethnically diverse cities, with 40 percent of residents being first- or second-generation immigrants.

It was the first meeting between five-time world champion Brazil and Iraq, the 2007 Asian Cup winner.

Brazil, which isn't playing qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup because it will host the tournament, plays Japan in Poland on Tuesday.

DUBLIN — Ireland captain Robbie Keane has been ruled out of Friday's World Cup qualifier against Germany because of an Achilles tendon injury.

This is the latest blow to the Irish team that already has lost Sean St. Ledger, Richard Dunne, Glen Whelan, James McClean and Kevin Doyle over the last two weeks.

Keane, a forward for the Los Angeles Galaxy, missed training Thursday.

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Miyaichi called up for France, Brazil friendlies

Wigan Athletic striker Ryo Miyaichi has been recalled for Japan's upcoming World Cup qualifying warmups away to France and five-time world champion Brazil as the Japan Football Association announced a 23-man squad on Thursday.

Manchester United's Shinji Kagawa, CSKA Moscow's Keisuke Honda and Takashi Inui, who has been in good form with three goals so far this season for Eintracht Frankfurt, were also named to the squad that will play France in Paris on Oct. 12 and Brazil in Wrocklaw, Poland, four days later.

Miyaichi, on loan to Wigan from Arsenal, returns to the fold and gets the chance to win his second cap having been left out of the squad that beat the United Arab Emirates 1-0 in a friendly in Niigata last month before edging Zico's Iraq by the same scoreline in their fourth match of the final round of qualifiers for Brazil 2014.

Defenders Yuzo Kurihara, Atsuto Uchida and Yasuyuki Konno are back after missing the Iraq game through suspension.

The matches against France and Brazil provide the kind of precious away tests coach Alberto Zaccheroni has been hoping for as Japan aims to make its fifth consecutive World Cup finals.

The Asian champions, who are six points clear at the top of Group B, play their next qualifier away to Oman on Nov. 14.

Japan and France have played five times with Les Bleus undefeated in five matches. France won 2-1 the last time the two teams met at the 2003 Confederations Cup in Saint-Etienne.

Japan has also yet to beat the Brazilians at the full international level, although it came close to pulling off a massive upset with a 2-2 draw at the Confederations Cup in Germany in June 2005.

In the last meeting between the two teams in their final group stage game at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Keiji Tamada fired Japan in front, but their elimination from the competition was sealed after crashing to a 4-1 defeat in Dortmund.

The squad:

Goalkeepers — Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Shusaku Nishikawa (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo)

Defenders — Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka) Yuzo Kurihara (Yokohama F Marinos), Masahiko Inoha (Vissel Kobe), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Atsuto Uchida (Schalke), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Hiroki Sakai (Hannover)

Midfielders — Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg), Hajime Hosogai (Bayer Leverkusen), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow), Hideto Takahashi (FC Tokyo)

Forwards — Ryoichi Maeda (Jubilo Iwata), Mike Havenaar (Vitesse Arnhem), Takashi Inui (Eintracht Frankfurt), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United), Hiroshi Kiyotake (Nuremberg), Ryo Miyaichi (Wigan Athletic)

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Ronaldinho changes club in Brazil

SAO PAULO — Ronaldinho signed with Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro on Monday, less than a week after leaving Flamengo and suing his former team for unpaid wages.

Atletico Mineiro said it reached a deal with the former two-time FIFA player of the year until the end of 2012. The announcement was made just hours after television images showed Ronaldinho practicing with Atletico players in the city of Belo Horizonte earlier in the day.

"I returned to Brazil to win titles and now I'm having a new opportunity," the 32-year-old Ronaldinho said at a news conference. "I'm arriving at the club to give my best and to try to help Atletico win titles. I'm motivated and focused on doing my best. I feel like I still have many good years left in my career."

Atletico Mineiro is a traditional club in Brazil but has not won any significant titles since the 1997 Conmebol Cup.

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Neymar stars as Brazil hammers U.S.

LANDOVER MARYLAND — Brazil had its way with the U.S. soccer team, with the stars in the famous yellow jerseys dribbling past the Americans and generally pushing them around for the first half-hour.

Neymar had another dazzling night against the United States, scoring one goal and setting up two more to lead the five-time World Cup champions to a 4-1 victory in an exhibition Wednesday night.

"We need to get an edge more nastier," said U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann, the former German star and coach. "Maybe we're a little bit still too naive. Maybe we don't want to hurt people. But that's what we've got to do. You've got to do that at the end of the day. So we've got to step on their toes more and get them more frustrated and make a case with the referee maybe as well, for us, not only the opponent."

Thiago Silva, Marcelo and Alexandre Pato also scored for Brazil, playing the opener of a three-game U.S. tour.

Herculez Gomez, in his first start since the 2010 World Cup, scored for the U.S., which is preparing for its opening qualifier for the 2014 World Cup on June 8.

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