SportingNews.com - Soccer : Japan to cancel friendlies with U.S.

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Japan to cancel friendlies with U.S.
February 15, 2003

TOKYO -- The head of Japan's soccer federation said that two international friendlies in the United States in March will be canceled regardless of whether a U.S.-led coalition goes to war in Iraq.

"Even if no war breaks out, there is no telling how things will turn out," Saburo Kawabuchi told reporters Saturday. "It's not worth taking unnecessary risks."

Japan was due to open its 2003 schedule with a game against Uruguay in San Jose, Calif., on March 26. The team was then scheduled to face the U.S. national team in Seattle three days later.

"We have not been notified that the games are being canceled," U.S. Soccer Federation spokesman Jim Moorhouse said Saturday. "We are proceeding under the assumption the games will go on as planned."

President Bush believes Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, and he is trying to rally support in the U.N. Security Council for military action to disarm Saddam Hussein.