Japan ex-coach Okada eyes China club

Japan’s former coach Takeshi Okada, who took the Blue Samurai to the knockout stages of the 2010 World Cup, is in final talks to join China’s Hangzhou Greentown FC, a report said Wednesday. “I get inspired by the challenge,” Okada told reporters as he arrived in Shanghai late Tuesday, according to the Nikkan Sports tabloid. “China is a country that will play a key role in many areas of the world. I want to see it for myself.”Okada, 55, became a national hero in Japan after his team reached the last 16 of the World Cup for the first time on foreign soil in South Africa, beating Cameroon and Denmark in the group stage before going out to Paraguay.Okada, who also coached Japan during their World Cup debut in 1998, when they lost all three group matches, said last year he might accept a club post, but would never again become a national coach.He was offered the position at former Asian club champions Urawa Red Diamonds but turned it down, apparently in favour of Hangzhou Greentown, the Nikkan Sports said.