As the 2010 World Cup draw will be held next Friday, I'm suggeting to open a new thread about JNT at the 2010 WC, discussing the draw, Japan's opponents at the WC, Japan's preperations, friendlies and players selection leading up to the big event. And sure enough Japan's performance at the main event .
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup Good idea. My drawing : I don't want the same, for sure. I can't wait 'til friday. I hope we'll take an average group, not too easy because this does not prepare to the top competion that comes after and there is a risk to be ashamed if ever we do not go through. I think Japan can do really good. Okada is a nice coach with some weird choices when it comes to the players, okay, but the way we play sometimes is beautiful and unique.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup FIFA announced the 2010 WC draw procedure (ie; seeding + pot allocations). The Draw will be held in Cape Town, South Africa, On Friday, December 4th, at 1700 O'Clock GMT. Link: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/media/newsid=1142262.html
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup It will be interesting to see if Okada can carry the Japanese NT to his stated goal of a semi final place, though I am hugely doubtful. OK, Korea made it in 2002, but they did get a little help along the way! But dont mistake my doubt for being against the Japanese NT, its not! Japan is my second team. I want them to do well. But their play does worry me. Saw many of the qualifiers, and some of the friendlies, including the game against South Africa. At times, Japan played some very nice football, Good passing. Decent speed. That sort of thing. However, in many games I have seen, they just lacked the crucial cutting edge when they get the ball near the box! For example, the game against South Africa. Japan where the better team, the passing at times was a significant improvement on what I have seen before, but when they get near the box, rather than trying to drive in, they either lost the ball or tried to pass it into the box. They just did not seem able to break down the South Africans sufficiently. However, defensively, they never really looked like South Africa caused too much of a headache. That is a good point. I just hope the Japan is drawn in a group far away from England. Whilst I love living in Japan, I am still an Englishman, and if England and Japan should play, odds are Japan will get knocked out. And I will be in trouble with my girlfriend.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup And here we all thought Okada's semi's was optimistic. I would like to avoid France, Portugal from pot 4 and Cameroon, Uruguay and Ghana in pot 3. Oh and I'd like to avoid the english, argentinians and brazilians because we've got pending friendly arrangements with them. I don't wanna be in South Africa's group for some reason as that can lead to complacency. Ideally: Germany, Japan, Chile, Slovenia/Swiss
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup Dude, I'm sure you don't need reminding how France got themselves into the pot in the first place.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup But this is not an objective criteria to put us off. They just changed the rules for this World Cup, bizarre ... And I don't say this to absolve us. But this is football. Sometimes mistakes arrive.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup I understand what you mean. And really, I think the Blatter and friends have only done this because football and FIFA's reputation is being damaged by the ongoing Henry saga. We all know that FIFA could give two sh*ts about honesty and fair play, but if their money is threatened due to declining reputation, then suddenly they spring into action. There isn't really another explanation for these kinds of autocratic and arbitrary decisions.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup FIFA has been acting in an autocratic manner!? Shock! Unfortunately, its their ball, and if we want to play, we have to play by their rules. Enormously irritating, and for my Irish friend. Well... I think you can guess...
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup It doesn't have to be that way. Blatter often likes to boast that a new nation will join FIFA before it joins the UN. The difference is that at least the UN claims to be representative, whereas FIFA is possibly the biggest and most corrupt boys' club in the world. In this context, it is not surprising that the UK is very reluctant to field a football team for its own Olympics. If only more journalists would get a clue and realise that the IFAB is probably the only body preventing Blatter from tinkering with the beautiful game according to his own whims, then maybe something would happen. As it is, the situation seems to be a stalemate.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup I found a fun simulator to play around with. Basically it puts the teams in the groups and you can choose who you think will win from the chosen groups and so on. http://www.mi-sha.com/program/html/fifa2010sim_3.htm
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup The UK isnt reluctant. We are fielding a team. Problem is, at the Olympics, we compete as Great Britain, in the world cup, as the 4 constituent nations, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We make up 4 of the 8 seats on IFAB. The other 4 seats held by FIFA. The concern held by the IFA, SFA, and FAW is that if they join with England and submit a team to the Olympics, the drum beat will get louder to unify as 1 British Association. Which they dont want to do. Should we have a unified British association, it would be completely dominated by the English part of it. By keeping separate, the other nations can have the chance to do stuff they just would not get otherwise. Even though FIFA gave assurances that if there was a British team, it would not spark a debate about the home nations, they still did not want to do that. Therefore, England will be the sole FA submitting players for Team GB in London 2012.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup That is what I meant when I said that the IFAB is probably the only body standing between Blatter and complete hegemony over the football world. Just having England send players as a GB team seems like an inelegant compromise (I hadn't heard about this before now, but it sounds pretty reluctant to me). But if it keeps Blatter from trying to dismantle the IFAB while keeping the journos from flapping their gabs then I guess it will have to work.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup I put it through a time zone converter. It came out as midnight on the fifth.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup Try a new time zone converter. From the UK to Japan its 9 hours. The UK being on GMT during the winter. That puts the draw at 2 in the morning on the 5th here. Though I think the draw itself is some time after that. Apparently, coverage begins at 5pm GMT.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup yep, it starts at 2am Saturday here. I set the timer on my TV 2 days ago.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup Nakata is just saying what any play or coach on any other team would say. If you play, you play to win. Saying you are aiming for the semifinals just makes it sound like you seriously expect to make it that far. The media now mentions it every time they say Okada-Japan. It will be embarassing if Japan finishes last again.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup This is the problem I have with all this! I got all this from the media in England building up the team, even though the team does not say anything such as "we will..." Problem here is now he has said it, he has pretty much signed this in blood as far as the Japanese media is concerned. So, will he fall on his sword if he "breaks his promise?"
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup :/ I made a mistake and converted local time in SA to Japan time, rather than GMT. SA is GMT+2 at the moment. At any rate, it's too late to watch it live over here.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup Hide isn't actually part of the national setup, and retired in '06. And he's only giving them a suggestion on how to approach the tournament, not an ultimatum or saying they'll do this or that.
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup My ideal group would be: 1. Argentina 2. Japan 3. Cameroon 4. Switzerland
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup Maybe slightly off-topic, but are there any organized watch events in Tokyo for the draw tonight?
Re: Japan at the 2010 World Cup I know the Footnik in Ebisu will have it, but don't really know of any other places.