Actually, I think it's the other way around. Economic power positively correlates with soccer power. The getting out of poverty motivation may help some national team squads but it certainly isn't necessary. Look at Germany. I think you're overanalyzing the situation a bit. Choking under the pressure of the World Cup isn't something that only happens to Japanese players. Unfortunately it happened to our star man (and others) in the CIV game. Kagawa was mentally fragile in that game but I'm not sure that can be attributed to the weight of the Japanese psyche.
It's been talked about since 1998, actually since 1994. And not only a matter of soccer, Japanese Olympians have the worst record of actual performance to expected performance of any major country. Almost all Japanese favorites crumple like Kleenex. I really did not think personalities like Honda and Nagatomo would have that problem, but they did. Kagawa, not really a surprise, he's obviously a weak-minded fool, very similar to Yanagisawa in having all the talent and just being mentally weak. Okubo is fiery but he doesn't channel it into superior focus and execution, he just blows up. And his skill level is not high enough. He's basically just Gon for this time, a guy who you would expect to be clutch based on his positive attitude and determination, but who is actually a choker.
Man, I've slept five hours and I still can't accept this. Plus, the game of saturday still bumps me out.
Exactly my thoughts. Here comes that last hard cold fact. But Colombia is already first in this group no matter what so they may actually field some second line up for this one to rest their players. None the less they need to go for the win and hope Greece will win, but they wont make it out of top 16 with this kind of play. In fact Colombia should be able to terrorize them on their own
Michael Ballack had tipped Japan to beat Greece but was visibly frustrated afterward, noting that Japan had far more quality than Greece but simply lacked power up front. In other words, why keep sending in aimless crosses? Ballack looked so exasperated in the postgame wrap.
I know, man I'm brazilian, but who knows, both Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte (where they played) have nice sunny beaches
I have to admit, I'd rather shoot myself than pick up garbage after a loss or a draw with 10-man Greece.
So yesterday I decided to stay up until late and listen to the game broadcast on the radio (partly an excuse for not having pay-tv, but also something I do often anyways). I missed the CIV game but I was still hoping Japan could turn things around. The feeling of utter disappointment after the game was very hard to bear. First off, I came to follow Japan in 2011- when the hype was at its peak. Even Matsu was praising Zac's job, after some performances it looked like we were going towards a bright future- say for example dat 3-0 win over South Korea in Sapporo, in 2011. Then the excitement faded, some embarassing results came along the way, but I was still convinced we were getting to the round of 16 in Brazil at the very least. I've never voiced my opinion on the subject so much, mostly because of my poor technical knowledge, but I have always been a Zac apologist, a bit for national pride maybe, or maybe because I still owed him getting Inter to CL in 2004, when I was 10 years old and avoided the shame of being the lone Inter fan in my class. Looks like I was wrong all along. I don't like the Zaccheronni no more. What really frustrates me it's not this still-quite-frustrating WC, but rather the fact that we will be going back to four years of playing friendlies vs Iceland and Belarus, probably with a same-level or worse coach at helm, we will get a couple games against South Korea and Australia if we get lucky and don't get kicked out the Asian Cup early by the shitty AFC refereeing and our incapability to adapt play to Middle Eastern teams, which is something we should address considering a) half of our confederation sits in the Middle East and b) Qatar and friends are probably just going to buy the AFC altogether in a few years anyways. While I stopped following Serie A a while ago and got caught in the J.League since, I'm still supposedly rooting for my home country over the JNT, since my only ties with it are cultural interest, but after two years and a half sharing thoughts with fellow J.League fans on this board and consequently discussing the JNT as well, I'm feeling like shit right now. Sorry for the rant. Hopefully in four years time things will be different (half of the NT will be made out of Vanraure Hachinohe players, you heard it here first) but knowing the JFA I know that the best South American coach we might get would be Jose Carlos Serrao. Hey, he's a friend of Wagner Lopes though. He might do well in Japan. [/s]
Actually I had the same thoughts. I don't know who's going to be the next coach, but if it's Aguirre JFA can go f'uck themselves. Either get a top top top coach (this is the perfect moment to do it) or just go for a japanese one who will prepare the team for the world cup and that's it. meh he got on the pitch as if he wanted to destroy the world and then as time passed, he disappeared with the others. You can get made at many players who had no sense of urgency but despite some mistakes you'll never think that about Eiji. Just give him the captain's armband please. ssh, it's okay. Some will get a rude awakening in the next years, some will need a bit more time to understand how far overall Japan is still from the top teams. As for Zac, two main mistakes in this match IMHO: - Saito needed to go in, absolutely. The most important thing was that nobody was ever attempting to go on a 1 v 1. I've seen I think one from Okubo in the beginning and one from Uchida. How the f'uck do you think you're going to break in, then. Nobody even almost attempted 1-2's. - for this match I think Kakitani could have been a better option than Osako, but I don't know what his condition is lolol it's okay man, just let it go. I understand that it's better to put the negative energy on one person. It'll probably make you feel better for a while, until you realize that Japan still has a long way to go unless they toughen up mentally.
From today's Guardian newspaper in regards the England team: "They have a 72-strong entourage from the Football Association including a psychiatrist, nutritionists, a turf specialist, a cook and at least one guy whose job is to spray the players with water when they start overheating. They have industrial fans and heat chambers, and individually-tailored recovery drinks developed after inviting scientists from Loughborough University to study their sweat patterns." What they don't have is any points. Just sayin'...
damn, that was a spirited performance, hard to rage against the team. its just disappointing. too bad Zach didnt have the guts to take out Honda, who was playing in slow motion, instead of Osako who was having a good game (unless you re blind or prejudiced, or both as most of this board is). agree with Dax on Saito, an obvious choice when the crossing tactic is ineffective. its also a shame that Kiyotake has been so underappreciated by Zac, Id rather have him start next time. 2014 is not Kakitani's year. Konno and Yoshida were pretty good but that doesnt come as a surprise if you watched them for 4 years.