I only saw the second half of Japan vs Korea DPR, but Japan were very lucky to get a draw from what I was able to take in. Japanese approach play stunk for a solid 45 mins, seeming to use nothing of what worked for them so well at the WWC. Having seen South Korea better this current DPR side in their last game for large periods of play, I can't honestly believe how easy DPR just dominated a Japanese side recently crowned world champs. If DPR had more creativity than a concrete slab, they could have blown Japan away with a few goals. Fact is though they hardly tested Japan's GK with too many serious attempts at goal. Japan's coach needs to rethink his sides line up again, because I reckon teams must be using the U.S. WWC final performance as a reference point in how to combat Japan's style of play. If an east Asian rival can run USA's simple high energy hustling tactics to throw Japan off, Japan are going to have a very rough Olympics experience versus everybody else. I can't really judge DPR's quality when assessing their progress, as they looked anything but spectacular in the game I saw versus South Korea. Japan though need to consider dropping the oh so ineffective Nagasato, and quick. If I remember correctly, the Japanese team only got better without her presence on the field for 90 mins once the knockout rounds started. While she missed her only chance today, which inevitably resulted in an DPR OG, the rest of her play did nothing to help the team move out of a constant state of defence. I personally feel that Sakaguchi, Nagasoto, and Kawasumi will always suffer when teams use high pressure, high physicality tactics. Also leaving out one of Japan's most important and quietly effective players in Ando, was always going to be a dumb move for hopes of a fluid attack. Japan should qualify for London, but Sasaki needs to get ruthless in his team selection policy again. Plus where was Maruyama? She did some really good stuff for the team in the WWC.
Australia-China 1-0 Japan is in! (Yay! Although today it didn't deserve it, really... ) North Korea is "virtually" in (can they really not win against Thailand? Although a tie, instead, could put them out on tie-breakers, since Australia won 5-1 against Thais).
For China, heads start to roll Not surprising, as this tournament has been another new low. Played on home ground too. And only 4 years after their World Cup.
Yeah, but they didn't even make this edition of the WWC and the Olympics have even less spots. Dunno why they expected differently? Also, apparently, Rapinoe gave an interview with her impressions on the Nadeshiko's Asian qualifier games. Unfortunately, it got dubbed over in Japanese. Can anyone translate? [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsgajzdy94s"]????????? Megan Rapinoe interview - YouTube[/ame]
Wow, I really feel for South Koreans. The heel assist on their goal was really sweet. I guess SK really didn't deserve a so bad final result in this competion: one-to-last with just 4 points after 5 matches; I guess this SK team we saw here in China was worth way better than that.
South Korea played the best football of all the teams I saw in this Olympic qualification tournament, but they just lacked the edge of a team that knows how to win. knowing how to grind out a good result just looked out of reach for them right now. The games I saw them play, had them doing everything right, until the point your meant to score. If they can become more ruthless in front of goal, while developing a more tactical approach, they should be a true force in a few years. Right now though they look to play such an open and expansive game, it can often seem that they either forget, or simply not care about the threat of the opposition. The scorelines from South Korea's games versus the AFC teams that went to Germany, suggests that their not that far away from making waves. With DPR being booted out from 2015, South Korea can now prep for a guaranteed spot and valuable major tournament experience. There's just too much quality youth players within the Korean ranks for them to remain on the outside looking in for much longer.