(2015.06.16) 2018 WC/2019 AC Qualifiers : Japan x Singapore [R]

Now are you guys going to send your A team to the EAFF? The last tournament was really boring with your B team even though you guys played well and won. Full strength Japan vs Korea would be a thrill to watch

 

After evaluating your Japan vs Singapore match, what do you think was wrong in Japanese team to have this bad result?

 

Well, we all know that finishing is the biggest weakness of Japanese team in the recent times. With all the great MF which probably is good enough to get at least 1/16 in the WC there's not much quality in the final touch. That cost Japan WC and Asian Cup recently.

 

http://oneworldsports.com/blogs/japan-fail-impress-world-cup-qualifier

I agree with his main points. After this result it's abundantly clear, if it was not already, that they can't break down teams that park the bus. The Greece and UAE results were not flukes -- they were reflections of the team's shortcomings. They need more direct, aggressive, competitive, combative play. Some of the players seem to think that they're out there to show off their technical skills rather than to win. Fancy passing and playing "beautifully" are all well and good but ultimately it doesn't matter how you score as long as you score. IMO the Japanese style overemphasizes technique and underemphasizes the other qualities that go into making a good footballer.

 

With the amount of shots Japan got going I find it hilarious to boil down the drawn to not being able to break down teams that park the bus. There were enough chances, enough shots that slightly missed the goal or went straight onto the GK instead one of the corners. Improving the accuracy of those shots has nothing to do with being able to break down teams that park the bus, the latter was already done repeatedly, just with nobody finally finishing it up with a deserved goal.

 

OK I admit that I didn't see the game so I really had no business commenting. You're right, a lot of it is that they simply need better finishing. I do think there are other things to criticize, though, generally speaking. It's like with last season's Dortmund -- they have trouble scoring against teams that park the bus. It's bad finishing but they're also guilty of over-elaborate play and one pass too many at times.

 

It's not like Dortmund. Their offence was bad and their defence was even worse in the first part of the season. If you want a valid reference you could use Urawa from last two seasons - lots of great play, lots of shots and in the end draws instead of easily won games with 20 shots and no goals. And it seems like a mental problem, thse same as with Reds. They learned something from their mistakes but I don't know if this NT bunch of players can.

 

Ok I share my two cents here. Since Iran's tactic has turned to a similar style to park the bus I can tell you the weakness of this system which I really hate. At least this may help your team against Asian opponents that use the same style to ruin the fun of football.

Look for very tall players to use the header over your opponent team. Park the bus style is only well if the CBs or RB/LB are tall (over 186) otherwise any competent tall FW can overcome this system on corners or crosses from the sides. (Watch Iran vs Sweden highlights).

Another weakness is when this team goes on counter attack mode. In this situation LW or RW who usually come back and help LB/RB are far in opponent field and use fast pace starters type of game which makes them lose energy near end of first half or 70+ min. They run to their opponent field and usually are tired to come back soon and help the defense. If you can steal the ball in their passing in their counter attack mode or if you can collect the ball fast and move it behind your opponent MFs (between MFs and defense line) there is a high chance to open the last layer. Since DMF and LW/RW will be behind you and the side defense are vulnerable. You can pass them with two players. Specially 70+ min is the time that they are prone to mistake due to being tired.

A safer way to score is to work on FKs and take fouls behind their box.

We are about to have a friendly match in OCT 13 between Iran and Japan. You guys have time to work on this tactics and use it against us. We are in a transitional state and experimenting with many young talents too. So this match will be a good challenge for our young kids. I am looking forward to this match.

 

Your main weapon at WC 2010 was not K. Honda. It was your local coach Takeshi Okada.

 

Bad results before WC2010.
Okada nearly resigned some weeks before the start, that awful friendly vs England (2 own goals for our mighty defence) and 0 scores against african really weak club teams in training.

Before WC2014 Japan had high expectations, even here people thought how many goals we could score vs Ivory Coast and korean fans said us that Greece was a weak team cuz they won them easy in a friendly plus that damned CC vs Italy when we lost but "we schooled them" as it was a 3-0 victory and people on Japan tv said the bad CC was Zac intelligence plan to assume a low profile before the real WC...

That's the difference from pre WC2010 and pre WC2014.

 

Reminds me of Iran pre WC2014. They still managed to do better than anticipated.

 

Iran did not do any amazing thing at the WC 2014. We still finished fourth in the group, and we were one of the worst teams at WC 2014 in terms of results (28th out of 32 teams) We could also get that 1 point with half decent Iranian coaches like WC 1978.

 

The result is not the only important thing in friendly matches unlike official matches. The coaches use friendly matches to work on their plan for official matches.

 

just came to say, no comment on the last match


It wasnt that long when things for Japanese football looked a lot better

 

I mean in terms of performance. Argentina had a hard time against you guys. They underestimated Iran clearly.

 

For Japan 2014 was a repeat of 2006.

• High expectations after reaching the knockout round previous WC.
• Manager who's name starts with Z and has no international coaching experience.
• Take a lead in first match but have no clue how to play with it and eventually get overrun.
• Scoreless draw in 2nd match with a big missed sitter (Okubo against Greece, Yanagisawa against Croatia).
• Need to win by a few goals against superior South American opposition in the last match. Take the lead but eventually lose by a few goals instead (actually the same exact score of 4-1).

LOL if not for the Australian goal that hit both posts and went in all of the scores would have been identical.

 

Nakamura -> Honda
Tamada -> Okazaki

But the previous CC was quite different.

 

In comparison to Zac Japan, I guess Zico Japan wasn't so bad after all. They also performed well at CC but came close to advancing unlike Zac Japan that lost all 3 matches.
And at the World Cup, their weakest opponent was Australia at its best under Hiddink, much better than the team now which was still able to win Asian Cup. If only they had that Okazaki instead of Yanagisawa or Tamada...

 

They won against Greece though, then defending Euro champs. Zac Japan couldn't get a win against a weaker 10-man Greece, let alone a sub-par Italy.