The flu is not a cold, it wears your whole immune system down. He won't start the first game, thus his chances of playing an important role have already decreased.
But we don't know exactly how Aguirre sees him, for example maybe he is a starter in his book, and I doubt that he will start the 'main' lineup in the first game unless he wants to stupidly overkill the players...
That's the thing, because of this timely illness, it won't matter since Endo is automatically going to start, not that he's awful, far from it, and I doubt he'll be changing a team that wins. I wouldn't start with a second lineup, if you don't take the competition seriously, it might come back to bite you. In 2011, the team was far better, yet almost lost to Jordan (granted they are better but you get my point).
I wonder weather the 2011 team was really far better than the current team. Of course Endo has declined since 2011 but certain players like Honda, Okazaki, Yoshida and Nagatomo have improved since then and have become better players.
I also don't think the 2011 team was better, actually the opposite. If we consider this starting lineup Eiji Nagatomo - Konno - Yoshida - Uchida Endo - Hasebe Kagawa Honda Okazaki Maeda 9 players out of 11 are still there and could start again(would've been 10 with Uchida). Some in a different position. Our MFs\AMFs this time are better than Hosogai, Fujimoto, T. Honda, Kashiwagi, Matsui. Yoshida is more experienced. Kiyotake and Inui are in good form and they weren't there back then. Granted, Endo is older, Kagawa isn't in good form. But it would be a scandal to not have a top 4 finish. I know some think that "we have to win" but football can be cruel so unless we get out with a 3-0 by someone it will depend on what happened on the pitch for me (dubious penalties, disallowed goals, lucky goals, etc). yeah but I seem to remember we also had an unlucky disallowed goal, if I'm not mixing up something else. Speaking of which, Jordan just had an awful year and I think the "derby" with Palestine will be hot.
Considering the current state of international football in the region, any outcome other than lifting the trophy will be unacceptable. If Brazil were in this tournament, is there any question they would win it?
because Japan is anywhere near Brazil now? Australia is the host country btw, in case you've forgotten.
2011 team was riding the World Cup momentum, was playing excellent football up to the AC, Hasebe, Endo, Nagatomo, Kawashima, Honda and Kagawa were in their primes. The last three ones are the shadow of themselves now and Hasebe has clearly declined as well (yet it's good enough to walk into the team).
Auckland City has named a 19-man squad to face Japan: Auckland City FC 1. Tamati Williams (GK), 2. Simon Arms, 3. Takuya Iwata, 4. Mario Bilen, 5. Angel Berlanga, 8. Tim Payne, 9. Darren White, 10. Ryan De Vries, 11. Cam Lindsay, 13. Joao Moreira, 14. Sanni Issa, 15. Ivan Vicelich (c), 17. Marko Dordevic, 19. David Browne, 20. Emiliano Tade, 22. Andrew Milne, 23. Sam Burfoot, 24. Jacob Spoonley (GK), 25. Fabrizio TAVANO Among them is Takuya Iwata, ex-Gifu player whose day job is now a truck driver, who is very likely to start against Japan. He is the first-choice left-back for Auckland City and featured in every match of Auckland City's impressive run in the Club World Cup.
Better to stay in Japan I assume. And no - Hasebe wasn't performing any better than he is now. And Kagawa haven't done too much for the NT up to the moment when AC started. Kawashima shouldn't be a starter anymore and there are two guys in the squad who are probably better than he ever was. Nagatomo just started playing for Cesena. He wasn't playing in CL quarters yet. And Honda still wasn't the team's coach like it happened prior to WC.
Hasebe has lost a step, he's not as influential as he used to be. It showed at the WC and it shows at club level. His injuries probably took their toll on his body. He's still a decent player. I don't care about what Kagawa had achieved at the time. He came into the competition playing fantastic football with Dortmund and had some excellent performances during the AC. He's coming into this one as a sub in club after having spent a whole season on the sidelines at MU. Kawashima shouldn't be a starter but he will be. Nagatomo was at his physical peak and his AC was truly outstanding. He hasn't been the same since the WC. I don't rule him recapturing his form out though. And Honda ... I don't even need to write anything. Just watch his games.
Kagawa's been hanging around the team by name alone for at least 18 months now. Good games from him are few and far between.
I also hope that Kiyotake will start instead of Kagawa as he is in good form lately. But its ok that Kagawa was called up as he can be a valuable joker.
Kagawa "The Joker", WOW! You mean a "hidden knife" or "concealed weapon" or "sudden strike" right? An Hanamichi-Sakuragesque (SlamDunk) character, love it. And on which bases you guys said that Eiji is the weaker gk in the team (now and in the past too WOW)? By his unlucky season in Standard? Do you really think that one of the other japanese gks would be better then him in Eredivisie playing in such an atrocious team? I remind you that in the Okada-Zac years w/o Eiji we would lost a lot of matches and he was hugely important in WC2010 and AC2011 too (Nishikawa subbed him after the red card and he was not enough right? ). The main difference between '11 and '15 is (absurdly) that we are not sure that our Strikers will perform as good as Maeda+Lee did 4 years ago. Without those goals the final result were be Top4, the most realistic goal for this JNT after WC2014 and those ridiculous declarations of victory.
Are you trolling? Maeda was sh!t except for scoring a hat trick against weak Saudis who played for nothing. This time Japan has a successful Bundesliga scorer.
Sorry, you've just made my ignore list. I've been trying to put up with your negative comments but now I finally broke down. Every single post you make is negative.
speaking of kagawa, it doesn't matter if he is in good shape or bad shape at club level. he was/is/will be always utter garbage for japan. i've followed his actions at international level since 2008 asian u-19 soccer championship but believe me most of his games have been below average. he was crap even during his first stint at dortmund. his problem is that he needs physically strong or technically skilled centre forwards (barrios/levandowski) who are capable of holding up the ball for kagawa and hard workers (grosskroutz <-spelling?) who run like a horse to help kagawa. sadly japan lacks those types of players and that's why he is always disappointing. i already said this in 2011 on the japanese community. unfortunately people treated me like an idiot or loser at that time but finally they are realizing how useless he is. playing with kagawa is like playing with 10 men. any line-up without him is a good one.
as for the championship, australia, south korea and to a lesser extent uzbekistan are our main competitors. betting websites consider us the top favorite and i agree with them. but asian cup is always difficult mainly because of poor officiating and our poor preparation.
lawl u guyyyyzzzz I think it's a good debate whether the 2011 AC squad was better than this one. Endo and Hasebe are older, but also in good club form (domestic treble/lynchpin for good Buli team). Shibasaki really needs to recover - no other good options for a ball-playing mezz'ala Losing Uchida hurts. Nagatomo is up-and-down but slowly recovering form Kawashima is pretty much the same, for better or worse Kagawa is out of form. Honda is more experienced and versatile Okazaki did well in 2011 but is now one of the top Buli strikers. I think Maeda -> Toyoda is a downgrade More goalscoring firepower off the bench with Kiyotake/Inui/Muto/Kobayashi, compared to Lee/Matsui Yoshida is in good form and a solid PL player now. Moving Konno to the destroyer spot with Morishige in defense is a net upgrade If Gotoku shows up, he can really add depth and width to the attack. But he can just as easily commit clunkers in the back
True, but they're talked about as *drum roll* the Brazil of Asia. I believe we took that distinction from the saudis long ago, lol. And Brazil was the host at their world cup, and Germany at theirs.