modern sport

---

 Ex-Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic has been appointed
coach of the Japan national team, the Japan Football Association said
Thursday.
The Bosnian will succeed Javier Aguirre, who was dismissed in early
February in connection with match-fixing allegations against him in
Spain.
Halilhodzic, the eighth non-Japanese to serve as a Japan manager,
coached Algeria at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he took the
team to the round of 16 before narrowly losing to eventual champions
Germany in extra time.
Halilhodzic came at the recommendation of former Japan coach Ivica
Osim, also a Bosnian. The 62-year-old will be reportedly offered an
annual salary of 2 million euros, which would make him the
highest-paid Japan coach ever.
Halilhodzic also qualified Ivory Coast for the 2010 World Cup,
however, he was dismissed four months before the tournament.
Aguirre has protested his innocence in the Spanish case. The Mexican
took up the coaching position in August, replacing Italian Alberto
Zaccheroni, who stepped down following Japan's poor World Cup in
2014.