By Ridge Mahoney in San Francisco

The World Cup isn't really four months away. It's here.

True, neither team that takes the field Friday night when the USA plays Japan (ESPN2 , live, 11 pm ET) will closely resemble the version that will play in the World Cup this June.

But there are sufficient key members on hand and enough at stake to provide more than a glimmer of the near future.

The Americans have Landon Donovan, Eddie Pope and Eddie Johnson. Japan has Shinji Ono, Alessandro Santos and Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

Combined, they have 349 caps and 50 goals and that goal total includes a zero for Kawaguchi, who has played 80 times for his country in the goal. Both teams are deprived of their European players but well-stocked with hopefuls.

"We're just going to go out and play," said U.S. coach Bruce Arena. "Japan has a very good team with some young, exciting attacking players. I'm looking for a good game, a challenging game for our players, which I think we need. If that's the case, it's going to certainly help me to evaluate some of our players.

"The qualifying for the Asian countries ended in June and so Japan has played very few games since then. You can't really identify the characteristics. We see the roster, and there were some players involved in games in July and November and some in June. We don't know a whole lot about the kind of form the Japanese team's in, which players are going to be on the field, and their perspective on the game."

Dozens of Japanese journalists were on hand for Thursday night's training session. When one of them asked Johnson if knew much about the opponent, he said, "Not really. It's a well-organized team, very technical, and they're like us with players trying to impress the coach. There are a lot of domestic players trying to win a spot, so I think it will be a great game for us."

Brazilian legend Zico has been in charge of Japan for 60 matches. World Cup qualification was rather straightforward and the expectations in Japan — more than 100 Japanese journalists will attend — are high, despite the slim chances of Japan repeating its quarterfinal appearance of 2002 as co-host.

Ono recently returned to Japan to play for Urawa Reds after four injury-marred seasons at Feyenoord and the pressure on him has already begun to build.

Ono will play as one of two attacking midfielders supporting Tatsuhiko Kubo, who has eight goals in 26 internationals. The Japanese roster does have several players in their early 20s, but Ono is 26, Kubo is 29, and 10 of the players have at least 30 caps.

"We have some young players and players, like Ono, who have been injured," said Zico through an interpreter who translated his Portuguese into Japanese before another translated it into English. "We want to test them and see what they can do. The U.S. is high in the FIFA rankings. They have a strong team and the Japanese team has not played many games since the World Cup qualifications, so this should be a good experience."

The USA will likely play a version of the formation it used in the second half against Canada Jan. 22 in a 0-0 tie. Chris Klein lined up at right back but moved upfield often, and with no other clear-cut candidate play that position — Frankie Hejduk has been sidelined with a strained quad — he's likely to return with defenders Todd Dunivant, Jimmy Conrad and Eddie Pope lining up left to right.

If the midfield quartet against Norway — Donovan, Pat Noonan, Kerry Zavagnin and Clint Dempsey — returns, the only real question is who plays with Taylor Twellman up front: Brian Ching or Josh Wolff.

All of them started in a three-forward alignment against Canada, and with Japan expected to play with only Kubo up top, Arena could gamble on playing just three in the back and pressure Japan with three up front.

"I have such an arsenal of tactics it's unbelievable," Arena joked after deploying his midfield in a diamond alignment against Norway. "You haven't seen anything yet."

Fans will probably have to wait until June to see the latest manifestations of Arena's tactical wizardry. Tonight the theme is doing the job against quality opposition.

Johnson has recovered from a calf contusion he suffered against Canada, which was his first competitive action in five months, and is slated to get playing time.

He, along with Brian McBride, theoretically are World Cup locks, but Twellman's hat trick against Norway reminded all of the forward candidates that the competition continues.

Johnson had scored the last U.S. trio in October, 2004 after coming on as a sub against Panama.

"My focus now is every minute I get, try to make the best of it," said Johnson. "My goal is to make a difference in these games."