Little more than a year ago, Philippe Troussier remarkably led African lightweights Burkina Faso to the last four of the African Nations' Cup.

The Frenchman, who earned his nickname during a 10-year stint in African soccer, has repeated his magic with Japan despite the absence of five top players who were not up to date with their vaccinations.

They were banned from travelling by the Japanese federation after failing to have Hepatitis B shots in time for the trip to Nigeria.

Troussier, uncomfortable with the sobriquet until recently found that he was being called the same thing when he arrived in Japan and took a liking to it.

``There are lots of coaches who are all the same and who aren't called anything. I am the only white witch doctor. I like it. It's a recognition of my work,'' he said yesterday.

Troussier, Japan's national coach and entrusted with the task of building a teamfor the 2002 World Cup, arrived in the country in March and made his debut in a 2-0 home defeat by Brazil a day later.

Shortly afterwards he extended his activities to the under-20 squad in a talent-spotting exercise.

Surprisingly, he was alone among the 24 coaches to arrive in Nigeria with the double role.

After a shaky start against Cameroon, Japan have beaten the United States, England, Portugal and Mexico to earn a clash against Uruguay tomorrow.

Troussier said he had not expected to progress so far, but the experience had been invaluable.

``When I arrived, I recognised the talent and ambitions of the players,'' he said. ``There are probably five or six players here who will be in the squad for the World Cup.''

He said his biggest task was to change the mentality of the players and make them more competitive, even if it means teaching them a certain amount of gamesmanship.

``We need to develop some techniques (for winning). If you look at their faces, you can see they are just kids. I seeUruguay, they have techniques,'' he said.

``It is difficult for them to express themselves, they are very disciplined. Sometimes they need to make decisions, to change their ways.''