© Reuters 2002

Fulham's Junichi Inamoto, Feyenoord's Shinji Ono and Parma's Hidetoshi Nakata were named in Japan's squad on Monday for a friendly against Jamaica on October 16.

New Brazilian coach Zico has called up the trio after earlier fears that their club schedules might cause difficulties for his first match in charge. He also named two players who missed out on this year's World Cup.

Shunsuke Nakamura was left out of Japan's World Cup squad by previous coach Philippe Troussier but has since started this season with three goals in his first three Serie A matches for Italy's Reggina.

Also returning to the national squad for the friendly at Tokyo's National Stadium is Naohira Takahara, who came down with a lung infection before this year's World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

The 22-man line-up includes experienced players Yutaka Akita and Masashi Nakayama alongside two new caps - Urawa Reds defender Nobuhisa Yamada and Jubilo Iwata's Makoto Tanaka.

"Age is not a factor as far as I'm concerned. I just picked the best squad available," Zico told a news conference.

"Of course I've decided to keep most of the World Cup squad, but this is also an opportunity for me to take a look at a couple of new faces."

Conspicuous by their absence were defender Ryuzo Morioka, who injured his ankle during the World Cup, and goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

Japan finished top of group H before losing 1-0 to Turkey in the second round of the World Cup.

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight), Hitoshi Sogahata (Kashima Antlers)

Defenders: Yutaka Akita (Kashima Antlers), Akira Narahashi (Kashima Antlers), Toshihiro Hattori (Jubilo Iwata), Makoto Tanaka (Jubilo Iwata), Nobuhisa Yamada (Urawa Reds), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka), Naoki Matsuda (Yokohama F Marinos)

Midfielders: Hiroshi Nanami (Jubilo Iwata), Takashi Fukunishi (Jubilo Iwata), Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma), Alessandro Santos (Shimizu S-Pulse), Shunsuke Nakamura (Reggina), Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima Antlers), Koji Nakata (Kashima Antlers), Junichi Inamoto (Fulham), Shinji Ono (Feyenoord)

Forwards: Masashi Nakayama (Jubilo Iwata), Takayuki Suzuki (Genk), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima Antlers), Naohiro Takahara (Jubilo Iwata).