Bahrain lost 3-2 to Japan at the National Stadium in early September but Macala is optimistic they will fare better in the Group A encounter at the same venue.

"The game will be totally different from the last time we played Japan as that match was during Ramadan and now we have new players and we will try as hard as we can to produce a good performance and get a good result," he said.

"Japan will be a strong opponent even though they are missing a lot of their players who play in Europe.

"We also have a different team from that which played in the World Cup qualifiers as we are looking to give our young players a chance to get more experience and a game like this will surely help them."

Japan coach Takashi Okada, meanwhile, is confident they can leave the Middle East with all three points to go with an opening 2-1 victory over Yemen last week.

"Bahrain know our style and they have played with the same players for a long time and their performance has improved but I think that we can deal with them," he said.

Okada was also grateful VVV Venlo's Keisuke Honda and Eintracht Frankfurt's Junichi Inamoto were released by their clubs for the fixture and believes the duo can give them a crucial edge.

"Inamoto and Honda should be in good shape as they are in the middle of their domestic season," he added.

"Honda does not have a game to play in this period, so I've asked his team to let him join us for the Bahrain game and they agreed. I'm thankful to their clubs for agreeing to release them."

In the group's other game, Yemen entertain Hong Kong with the visitors hoping to bounce back from a 3-1 defeat to Bahrain.

"We have shown that we have discipline and a fighting spirit," said Hong Kong's Serbian coach Dejan Antonic.

"It was a good experience for us and what was more important is that we played against a tough team.

"I hope that we can recover against Yemen and get a good result."

Yemen coach Sami Al Nash is also targeting three points in a battle of the group's two weakest teams.

"Hong Kong are a good team and they play a quick style of football as they are similar to the China national team," he said.

"Their defeat against Bahrain doesn't mean they are a bad team and they will not be easy to defeat."

"We will be playing at home and we are looking to get a win in order to get back into contention."