Honestly, Japan were quite sloppy with the ball in the first half. They were much better in the 2nd half, now Halilhodzic should try Nakamura and Kobayashi in the next game. Alternatives for Hasebe and Kawashima in their respective positions need to be tried due to their age next year. If not, the same thing with Endo in 2014 will happen again. And, he should have retained Ueda instead of Miura, Ueda is much better than Miura.
Congrats. Good game overall. I like this team's disciplined defense. It is a major upgrade from the Zaccheroni era. Everyone was pressing from the front, something which they never did after the 2010 World Cup. That is the most important thing. By the way, Japan has won the group with one game left.
An Iran-Japan friendly would be nice, want to see how Japan can get through Iran's defense. Iran just managed a draw with a clean sheet against Korea with 10 men. Would like to see how Halilhodzic would handle a team that parks a bus.
Hmm, Japan played Australia a dozen times already, as for Korea to hold a match against them is problematic, in Asia there are not much options left.
Not really.Japan will definitely also schedule friendlies against SA and Europe teams. Just saying that in AFC, Iran may be the best option.
ah no, I don't think that, I meant literally that I'd like a decent non-asian opponent and not just the likes of Tunisia or Bosnia (with due respect). In the latest 2-3 years, they weren't as good as, say, France, Uruguay, Netherlands, Belgium, Argentina, etc. But I'm sure JFA will do his job now that we have to prepare the world cup Oh I agree, I'm just tired of asian teams
Convincing victory without the big 3 (Honda, Kagawa and Okazaki) in the starting line-up. Halilhodzic has done a good job at injecting new blood into the team. Ideguchi may be the next big thing in Japanese football. I also think the defense improved a lot! Japan has been unbeaten against Australia since the Asian Cup 2011. 4 wins and 3 draws in 7 games.
https://www.nikkansports.com/soccer/japan/news/1880813.html Then Haiti for 10th of October @nissan in Yokohama Some private problems. He said he was ready to return to France before the game. But no one knows what's going on there so far.
Haiti is not bad, considering that other teams will be busy in qualification matches. I read that he has some family issues in France.
Bosnian media is reporting that it's the wife of Vahid Halilhodzic's deceased brother who is in poor health.
Japan never won against Australia in WC qualifiers until yesterday. There were 1970, 2010, 2014 and now 2018 WC qualification and Japanese NT never won a single on with 2 Australia wins and 5 draws. That's why I wrote that winning against Australia and securing the WC place at the same time was so great.
Ugh, not exactly the kind of team I was hoping but I can imagine that with qualifications ongoing there isn't much available.
With qualifications ongoing and pretty big risk of playing in the 4th round in October didn't make the things easier for JFA I assume.