Nakamura played in an internal practice match Friday after spending two days training by himself due to a pain in his right thigh which he bruised in the Asian champions' 3-1 defeat to Australia in their World Cup opener on Monday.

The left-footed 27-year-old, who has just renewed his contract with Scotlanad champions Celtic, showed little effects of the injury but returned to the team hotel without talking to reporters.

"He has a bit of a cold with his body temperature reaching 37.2 C (98.9 F). But we think he will be alright for the Croatia match in Nuremberg," team spokesman Ichirota Fukushi said.

He was to travel with the rest of the team to Nuremberg later in the day as scheduled, Fukushi said.

Nakamura, who had been a doubt before the Australia match because of a painful left hamstring, scored Japan's goal in the Australia game with his speculative cross floating over a goalmouth scramble and into the net.

He was earlier hampered by a slight cold and suspected hay fever for severdal days since the Japan squad arrived for their training camp here late last month.

Both Japan and Croatia, who lost to five-time champions Brazil in their opener, needed to win their second match in order to keep themselves well in contention for a spot in the second round.