2005 Japanese NT Thread - The Road to Germany (Part II) [R]

so any thing new...any update...i'm still not over the kirin cup, that's gonna take a while

 

Ah, well...here's something new -- a lot of it's speculation, but it is an interesting turn of events.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20050531-00000004-ykf-spo

(if anyone does not understand/read Japanese and wants a translation, please let me know and I'll do a quick translation)

 

translate please

 

yes please

 

Caring not to spoile what depflight's translating now, now I wanna ask Zico,
"what the ******** has ya done for these 3 years, if Kawaguchi says the truth!?".

 

Sorry, I should have included the translation in the first place. Here it is, very rough, but complete (I don't like to summarize b/c the meaning often gets warped).

In preparation for the World Cup final qualifying round's most crucial game against Bahrain on the 3rd, Zico's secret plan may be coming into focus. And that is Hidetoshi Nakata's possible debut as a forward.

A switch has flicked on within Zico, and he seems to have turned into a slave-driver ("ogre"). He passed the crowd of almost 50 journalists without a word or a smile, and only said "otsukare" as he walked by. Most of today's practice session was spent on clarifying and confirming the defensive responsibilities, particularly careful of couter-attacks. The main group involved was goalie Kawaguchi, 3-back Nakazawa/Miyamoto/Tanaka, dmfs Ono and Fukunishi, and the sides Kaji and Santos. Zico played the "opponent" and sent in numerous targeted and accurate long balls above the heads of the sidehalfs to the vulnerable areas behind them.

Temperature 35 degrees celsius, humidity 90%. The slave-driving features of Zico's face, continuously yelling "not that way!", "yes, that's it!" to the players responding to each kick. Even Kawaguchi showed some suprise at Zico's change in training tactics: "This is a first for us since Zico's taken the reigns." Zico's translator of almost 15 years (from the J-league days) Suzuki chuckled satisfied, "It's like Zico's returned to the time when he was back at Kashima Antlers -- we worked up a good sweat today" [note: when Zico was technical consultant to Antlers, he was famous for huge tirades towards the players; he was known to be quite ruthless]

It was almost like watching the NT during the Troussier era, I (the writer of the article) said to JFA's head of technical commission Tajima. He replied, "There is a huge difference in quality between today's training and what we saw back then with the former NTcoach." In other words, Zico's training was superior.

So, if it was possible to have such a wonderful training, what has the last 3 years been all about?, I'd like to grumble... but it seems that at the eleventh hour Zico has finally shifted into true battle mode.

And what became more obvious after watching this training was that the back 8 players are going to stay put -- there will be no switching out of any of these players in this group. So it looks like Hide Nakata won't be returning to defensive midfield or taking over the right side as some had speculated as options. One NT player grinned, "well, if we're going to be keeping the back like this, Hide-san may be going to the forward line." In the last Bahrain game, Ono was absent and HNakata went in and solidified the middle as a defensive midfielder. This time around, the expected starting forward Takahara is injured and out of the game. Zico has said that "Hide is the kind of quality player that can play any position you ask him to." The All-Mighty Joker with Takahara gone and the forwards unable to score goals -- it may be that the plan is to solve the dilemma by putting Nakata up front.

JFA chairman Kawabuchi has said that at the very worst a draw is acceptable. And back when Zico was signed on, the understanding was that if the NT coach marked three consecutive losses, things wouldn't look too good for him. Carrying the two losses from this past week's Kirin Cup, going into this crucial game for the World Cup. Today, HNakata arrived in Abu Dhabi from Italy, his face bare of the usual sunglasses. He kept his head up and disappeared into the car. Will "Forward Nakata" be able to save coach Zico...save Japanese football...?

 

nps, thanks for translating it, translating is hard, especially if you learn a differnt language teh word translated in english are like bak to front
thanx anyway...
well i know Hide is the "supposed best" player in the squad...i dun't like him, but if it helps the squad, alright. it sux how they depend on Nakata tho
damn ! is inamoto gonna be there coz he sucks and he needs to start improving and all
and i haven't seen him for a long time

 

Hide is good, but too good for the remaining players, which makes him look useless sometimes..... Other players cannot follow him, 'cuz he's too fast, or they're too dumb to notice where they're supposed to move... Look at Suzuki. He's always standing in the wrong place!!

 

Agreed. Shunsuke can probably keep up with Nakata, so why not put Nakamura at offensive midfielder just below two striker combo of Nakata and Okubo? Anything is better than the no-talent ass combos Zico is currently using.

Also I saw Zico was getting back his manlover Yanagisawa so that the two of them can have sex all night long.

 

well, Yanagisawa can at least follow Nakata and will be in the right position. What he does when he gets the ball is the question of course though.
News says that Zico will use a 3-4-2-1, with Shunsuke and Hide as playmakers and, you guessed it, Suzuki as a 1-top. I can't really argue with removing a FW, since they serve no purpose anyway, but Zico still refuses to change the rest of the team. Kawaguchi, Tanaka, Kaji, and Fukunishi all seem set to start again. The only useful one of the bunch is Fukunishi at times, but he is also often a liability.

 

Actually i dont think Yanagisawa deverves the bad reputaion that he has.
I know he dont score enough goals, you can criticize him for that.
This season in Italy most of the time he was a sub, but when he came on he played really well without scoring. I even remember he was choosen in the best eleven of the week 1 or 2 times.

 

I'm not sure how the reporter who wrote this got this information, but here is some very exciting news for people who are fans of Yoshito Okubo and Daisuke Matsui.

The article essentially says that they have been able to confirm that Daisuke and Yoshito are registered as members of the Japan team for the Confederations Cup (starts June 15). Both players were first called to the NT during the Confed Cup two years ago.

Whether this means that they are officially going to be part of the team, or that they will only be called as back-up (if someone who is presently on the team gets hurts, etc), is my question. The article does not say anything about who else is also registered for the Confed Cup.

Anyway, though we should really concentrate on the qualifiers right now, I couldn't help but react to this news.

 

According to the regulation of the tourney, each participating association shall nominate 23 players, including three goalkeepers.

G: Doi, Narazaki, Kawaguchi
D: Miura, Tanaka, Chano, Miyamoto, Santos, Nakazawa, Tsuboi, Kaji
M: Fukunishi, H. Nakata, Nakamura, Ogasawara, Motoyama, K. Nakata, Inamoto, Ono, Endo
F: Suzuki, Yanagisawa, Takahara, Tamada, and Oguro

As for WCQ, the squad consists of 3 + 8 + 9 + 5 = 25 players. If both Okubo and Matsui play in CC, at least four guys will not be on the roster!?

 

oooooooohhhhhhhhh.... I hope O'kubo is in, for Suzuki..... but i'm sure *if* Zico will pick O'kubo, then the one sent away is.... O'guro... I want them both!!

Ah, by the way, I saw Zico's interview the other day. He said something like, "If the team loses three games in a row, there is no meaning for a coach to stay." sort of...... Does this mean, he might leave if Japan NT loses the Bahrain game this weekend...?

 

I agree, and the fact that Takahara is hurt at the moment might at least give Okubo a chance to make the bench. But Zico will be too busy making out with Yanagisawa to notice his talent.

 

LOL. So, is Yanagisawa wearing a schoolgirl uniform?

 

Is here Rivalries thread? When will you learn?
Even if Japanese football fan throw dirt at Japanese player in Japanese thread, that does not allow you korean insult Japanese player in Japanese thread.
If one Korean throw dirt at Korean player in Korean forum, then can I intrude in Korean forum and insult Korean player there?

 

tako-san, it was not insult. We had some kinda joke about school uniform before, so maybe it's funny only for us, sorry. (and it was not Hyok who said Yanagisawa & Zico's affair thing in the first place) .... Please don't get upset.

 

That's right, the numbers don't add up, so needless to say some players will inevitably be cut. I guess that will be decided after the two qualifiers this week. I have a feeling Takahara's injury will keep him out of play for a while, so it will be difficult for him to be 100% ready for the NK game OR the CC, so that's ONE player. And the midfield looks congested, so possibly one of the defensive midfielders or maybe Motoyama (he did not play in the 11-on-11 game yesterday during practice, though he does get used as a last minute sub) because his style and presence is similar to Matsui's. Chano was called up to the NT at the last minute b/c Nakazawa was injured and could not play the two Kirin Cup games -- so maybe he is the fourth... Then again, this article could be completely inaccurate or the reporter could have misinterpreted some info he/she got.

 

And the bad news grows........

Ono broke a bone in his right foot.

http://www.nikkansports.com/ns/soccer/japan/f-sc-tp3-050602-0016.html

 

I just saw an article about how Ono was the one bright spot in Japan's last loss.
And then I see he has fractured a bone in his foot...

So Zico continued practice with Nakata in Ono's spot and Ogasawara alongside Nakamura.

 

Some press says Troussier nearly get sacked from Marseille, and he will seek for new club.
If Zico lose to Bahrain, and even tie or lose to N.Korea, then Kawabuchi can fire him and invite Troussier...
...Well, such a thing will never ever happen. We go togther till play-off or 2006WC.
Anyway, hearing Zico's going to make an experiment at WCQ, as Man-power-Yamamoto, I hope he gets sacked soon.

 

　Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! Isn't there some kind of destiny or fate between Ono and Bahrain?? Ono anyhow cannot be in the game against Bahrain... Well...... now we have one spot... Get O'kubo now. I don't care where to put him, aaaaaaanywhere, though it would result in making huge, full of volante, why not!?

Ah, by the way... Last time, the Feyenoord's coach told Japan that we should get Ono back to Feyenoord with no injuries when he reluctantly released Ono for Japan NT's call..... Now he must be pissed off.... (I'm upset more though...)