A win or a draw against Poland will see Japan progress to the last 16 to face either England or Belgium. If Japan lose they can still qualify, but they also could be eliminated (depending on Senegal vs Colombia match). Edit: A win for Senegal against Colombia will see Japan qualify regardless of their results against Poland.
Just happened to SK in 2006: win, draw, lose, elimination. BUT they were vs a team (Switzerland) not just eliminated as Poland. And, SK was the only team to be eliminated with 4 points, while others qualified with 3 points. Yes, after all it seems thr ideal set up for an epic fail =(
Nakamura (Higashiguchi) Sakai - Shoji - Yoshida - Nagatomo Yamaguchi - Ohshima Haraguchi - Honda - Muto Okazizi and we lose 3-0
I like Japan playing as the underdog just like my country as they usually are at the world cup (not that we make it to the finals anymore) so I hope there's no complacency because of how Poland have played somfar. They will be hurting and wanting to send their fans home with something to cheer. Neat and tidy play, high tempo and I think it can be done!
I think Lewandowski not scoring in first two games is going to be a problem. Poland the country with most goals scored in European qualifiers scoring 1 is going to be a problem. Statistically speaking. I do hope that Either Senegal beats Colombia or Colombia demolishes Senegal cause I do not think this game against Poland is going to be easy, far from it
Maybe Nakamura should start. Kawashima is a bit shaky this WC. The first Senegal goal and the goal against Colombia should have been saved. He seems to be punching the balls more away rather than catching them nowadays.
Saw this post on Reddit detailing internal conflicts within the Poland team: "Just a quick post about all the drama during this night in Poland. Before WC one of most controversial sport journalist in Poland reports that team done more drinking and parties than Mexico. He is heavily hated and no one believes him. After Senegal game, more voices say that. Some people working at polish team fanpage, Łączy nas piłka, are leaking info about ongoing drama between Lewandowski and Błaszczykowski, as apparently Lewy was fed up about lack of professionalism in team and was outed despite being captain. After Columbia game, shit hit the fan, players start cracking up and talk about how terrible was the preparations prior tournament, Glik and Rybus openly criticised Nawałka for being bad trainer. Journalists starts speaking as well, telling that Peszko was chosen for the WC only because Lewandowski made an ultimatum that he would end his carrier in national play. Some reports says about huge party day prior team announcement, which ended with some kind of accident with Glik, and thats how he ended being injured. Stanowski, most well informed journalist about polish team tells that Fabiański, Krychowiak and Błaszczykowski made a group that is both against Lewandowski as a captain and younger players as starters. Pazdan fires up atmosphere saying that there will be need to openly talk about what happened in Arłamow, during last team trainings before going to Russia." Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/8tnnuh/summary_of_poland_team_controversy_after_columbia/ However, some posters responded that the above rumors are 'bullshit', linking to this tweet: To jakieś bzdury. Powołują się na jakieś niby moje informacje, których ja nigdzie nie wypowiedziałem, ani nie napisałem. https://t.co/W8WdHbjMiG— Krzysztof Stanowski (@K_Stanowski) June 25, 2018 Google Translate renders it as "It's some nonsense. They plead for some kind of information that I have never said or written anywhere."
Intern collapse is going on with Poland NT, but I wouldn't trust Robert Lewandowski even on a off-day.
I agree with you but It will never happen since Nishino is the coach and we must be content to have benched Honda in place of Kagawa and don't pretend too much from him. Let's say that Kawashima can redeem himself in Poland match leaving Lewandosky with a dry mouth.
I hope so. I liked him when I met him so I have a soft spot for him. He simply needs to stop the mistakes though. I'm in two minds about the Poland game.....maybe his experience would be key but also maybe fresh hands may prevail.
Nishino benching Honda so far and using him when he had some energy has been one of the likely reason as to why Japan did so well ! Anyway I'm betting more on a win from Colombia to save Japan's ass
Wait, if Colombia win and Japan lose (by only 1 goal): Colombia 6 (+3) Japan 4 (+0) 4scores Senegal 4 (+0) 4scores Poland 3 (-3) This is risky as a tightrope walk, especially if we lose by 2+ goals and Senegal only by 1. Even if we have the same points and goal scored I don't know if we are better of them in the fair play ranking (at the end that missed red card to Niang can matter). The best for us is if Senegal win: Senegal 7 Japan 4 Colombia 3 Poland 3 If I'm correct with this scores goals/fair play don't affect our chances to reach the final16.
Of course. But Senegal wont win and question remains what will happen with Japan match imo Japan should play as best as possible and forget about other matches teams saving their asses
Japan should not count on any team to do a favor, Colombia will beat Senegal imo. Japan need to take the full 3 points. Thats why I am thinking of maybe Nakamura starting as Kawashima has been making quite a bit of mistakes lately, if Japan had not concede the first goal against Senegal, they might be having 6 points now and can simply just draw against Poland to possibly finish top of the group and hopefully avoid England. I think England are more dangerous than Belgium as they play as a unit more cohesively than Belgium.
deep down i reckon kawashima will bounce back, as much as i like nakamura it’s a massive risk to play him in such a big game.
Maybe. I just feel that Kawashima has not been too stable this WC. Also on another note, if Hasebe play against Poland and Japan happen to proceed out of the group stages, I am afraid that he might be tired out physically. JNT as of now don't really have someone who can replace his role. I am aware that Makino can play as a DM but still he cannot replace Hasebe.
Take the lead and then sub in Yamaguchi for Hasebe. Hope to play in 02/07 instead of 01/07 and trust in our captain!