The 24-year-old AS Roma midfielder was included in a squad of 23 players for the eight-team tournament, taking place in South Korea and Japan from May 30-June 10 and serving as a warm-up event for next year's World Cup finals.

Nakata is in fine form for league leaders Roma, but a break in the Serie A schedule allows him to return to Japan for group games against Canada on May 31, Cameroon on June 2 and Brazil on June 4 .

The Confederations Cup semifinals will be on June 7 and the final on June 10 at International Stadium Yokohama, which will also stage the World Cup final on June 30, 2002.

Depending on the situation in the Confederations Cup and in the Italian championship race, Nakata may be allowed to return to Roma in time for the final two games of the season, away to Napoli on June 10 and at home to Parma on June 17.

'Officially, Nakata is available for the whole tournament,' Troussier said.

'But the situation is flexible and we will see what develops. We don't want to insist to Roma that we keep him here all the time, because it's also important to understand their position.'

Nakata will be available for Roma's game at home to AC Milan on May 27 and will join up with the national squad two days later.

Nakata, a two-time Asian Player of the Year, will be needed more than ever by Japan as two of his likely deputies in midfield, Hiroshi Nanami and last season's J.League Player of the Year, Shunsuke Nakamura, have been ruled out through injury.

Japan won the Asian Cup in Lebanon last October but have lost both friendly internationals this year, 5-0 in France and 1-0 in Spain.

'The Confederations Cup will give my players the opportunity to use the information they have received from these two defeats,' added Troussier, the recently-crowned Asian Coach of the Year.

'We will be playing on our home ground and want to show a new vitality, new confidence and new progress.'

The players will have a training camp from May 22-25 before reporting to the team hotel on May 27.

Japan's 23-strong Confederations Cup squad is:

Goalkeepers: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Yokohama F Marinos), Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight), Ryota Tsuzuki (Gamba Osaka).

Defenders: Toshihiro Hattori (Jubilo Iwata), Kenichi Uemura (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Ryuzo Morioka (Shimizu S-Pulse), Yasuhiro Hato (Yokohama F Marinos), Naoki Matsuda (Yokohama F Marinos), Yuji Nakazawa (Tokyo Verdy 1969), Koji Nakata (Kashima Antlers).

Midfielders: Hiroaki Morishima (Cerezo Osaka), Atsuhiro Miura (Tokyo Verdy 1969), Teruyoshi Ito (Shimizu S-Pulse), Daisuke Oku (Jubilo Iwata), Hidetoshi Nakata (AS Roma, Italy), Kazuyuki Toda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Tomokazu Myojin (Kashiwa Reysol), Junichi Inamoto (Gamba Osaka), Shinji Ono (Urawa Reds).