[WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN] Japan national team coach Takeshi Okada finds himself in the hot seat after his team's 3-1 loss to archrival South Korea Sunday continued a string of poor results. Fans booed Okada off the field after the game, and a poll showed 88 percent of fans want Okada fired before the World Cup.

"I take full responsibility for the results and apologize to the fans for the fact we weren't able to win yesterday," Okada said. "But we will go ahead with our preparations for the World Cup as planned."

Japan soccer federation president Motoaki Inukai met with Okada at JFA headquarters on Monday and said there were no plans to replace the 53-year-old coach.

"But performances like this will be unacceptable at the World Cup," he added.

Japan's poor run at the East Asian Championships follows Okada's pronouncement in December that he saw no reason why Japan couldn't make the final four of the 2010 World Cup.