It is no more than a friendly but has been elevated to a duel with high stakes. Japanese national soccer head coach Philippe Troussier from France has been looking for a solid performance and above all a win in the hope of gaining a contract extension through to the 2002 World Cup, to be jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea.

"This is a really crucial game because it will decide the fate of the Japanese team at the Sydney Olympics and also the 2002 World Cup," the coach told reporters. On the other side his counterpart Yugoslav Bora Milutinovic seemed more relaxed.

"Win or loss is not of importance, because it is just a meet between two countries. If our target is to qualify for the 2002 World Cup finals, we should not pay so much attention to the result of such competition which is not very important," said Milutinovic, who replaced Englishman Bobby Houghton to guide the national squad early this year.

But analyst argued that Milutinovic had no good reason to treat the match as just a friendly.

The March 15 match will be his first formal chance to test his reputation as the only coach to lead four different countries into the World Cup finals.

The "Wonder Coach",a nickname given by the Chinese media, has shouldered a daunting task of guiding China into the 2002 World Cup finals, which has been a far cry for the soccer-crazy country. His high-profile takeover has incurred both hope and suspicion after China turned out to be a Waterloo for foreign coaches. Nan Yong, vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, said he would rather put it as a showdown than friendly. "This is a very important match. It is neither a friendly nor an ordinary match. For Milutinovic he will guide the national side for the first time in official competition, which bears great importance to himself and his charge," Nan was quoted as saying by the popular Chinese newspaper Sports Weekly. Milutinovic also suggested his desire for a win in his debut. "I hope to bring about happiness for the Chinese people," he said in an interview with Beijing TV before bounding for Kobe.