Japan never reached the final8. Japan lost against Turkey with Troussier and draw against Paraguay with Okada. Now we have an interim coach and one of the candidate to the final victory as the opponent. If Japan will go through this it will be historical, something that will never happen again for decades and something that will shock the world of football. Imo there's few ways for Japan to reach an astonishing result as this: a 10 vs 11 men as against Colombia, Kawashima totally ON FIRE as in the friendly against France or a PERFECT teamwork by any player on the pitch and one the bench too. But let's say I'll be happy even with a defeat if we play as we can, scaring Belgium as hell and ending the match with 2 or 3 goals.
Some of you guys are so pessimistic haha A lot of surprises so far in this tournament; a lot of favorites are showing vulnerability early on and making it very interesting. Belgium is in fine form right now and is rightfully the favorite, but I believe Japan will put up a great match and will have a decent chance of securing the upset. That is if Nishino doesn't make any silly changes and Kawashima (who I believe is the x-factor) plays to his potential. I am really looking forward to this match, I hope Japan is able to make our AFC friends proud after the recent blunder.
Japan need to sharpen on their set-pieces, only Honda, Shibasaki and maybe Inui can give a decent free-kick. Japan's success in 2010 was due to their free-kick goals and set-pieces ability. Japan seems to be lacking in this regard compared to back then.
It's like you're suggesting that the Belgium players are pygmies...Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Boyata (Kompany), Witsel or Lukaku.
I only hope that advancing to the best 16 at WC will become Japanese NT standard forthe coming Cups. With 2014 being only a single blunder.
Fellaini! Marimo head incoming! However till now we conceded by: - Colombia: fk with Kawashima error; - Senegal: random rebound again on Kawashina error; - Senegal: action, defence error; - Poland: set piece (not by head), defencr error. Let's say that we were good defending against aerial threat till now and Kawashima is the sliding door of our fate.
Glad Japan didn't draw England so I can actually support them in this match. Controlling Lukaku and Hazard will be the key. Hope Nishino goes with the same starting 11 as in the 1st two games.
Thank you mate, I will cheer for England as I used to live there for more than a year, and I really liked the country. Let's hope Japan and England will face each other at some point of this tournament (wishful thinking at its best).
It's not about the height of the players, as much as it is about both respective team approach to the game. England depends heavily on aerial balls (4 of their 8 goals at this WC came from aerial balls), while none of Belgium's 9 goals was scored from an aerial ball, which shows that they don't depend on aerial balls that much.
I hope they don't always stop at final 16 ala Mexico tho. I hope that the JNT can maybe challenge for the semis by 20 years later.
Stop this JFA style bs. Not even an Argentina or Portugal or Germany or Netherlands or Italy have anything granted at the point of planning to reach a WC semifinal. The same idea of reaching the Final16 continously in the years was something unthinkable till some DAYS ago. Now that we did it for the 3rd time in 6 WC appearance, make it normal instead of the exception is a realistic and achievable goal.
Could that be because their striking qualities are better, so they donot need to rely on set pieces=aerial opportunities?
Agree with everything that's been said here. Belgium has big name players and a "star-studded" team, but the hype is in my opinion often a lot higher than the actual talent for a lot of those players. And most of the Japanese team also play in a top European league, and it's not like the Bundesliga is much worse than EPL, if at all. The odds on Japan to win this match was 10.00 last I checked, while it's 1.40 on Belgium. Obviously that's bollocks, and I encourage everyone here to place a bet on Japan. There's an enormous value on them, and even if Japan were to lose it's the right bet to take. I don't really far Lukaku that much, as both Yoshida and Shoji have shown they can handle a strong and tall FW earlier. His acceleration might be tough though, and there's not many (if any) Japanese players that can match that. Hazard can easily be bullied out of the match and go sour, so it should be good chances to neutralize him too. De Bruyne might be more difficult to deal with, but he's not really been at his best so far this tournament in my opinion anyway and might be out of form / tired after a long EPL-season. Belgium's defence is and defensive midfield is nothing to be particularly impressed by, and if Japan takes their opportunites for quick turn-arounds and counters, and manage to figure out when to put these players under pressure I think we'll see some good goalscoring chances. Boyata is a disaster waiting to happen, and he will probably screw things up at least 1-2 times this match as well.
The main issue for me are the gks. Let's hope Kawashima doesn't mess up and that Courtois do some mistakes. These are the Tunisia HL (imo the only Belgium reliable match to analyze): Tunisia scored by set piece while Hazard and Lukaku cut the defence to score. If our defence is in form I think we can prevent easly these type of threats.
Thinking more about this matchup, I have come to believe it's a positive for Japan that they are coming up against a very highly-rated side with big expectations. Versus the top technical sides, Japan can usually match them with their football. Japan come into this game with almost zero pressure. They have already completely overachieved. Belgium are the opposite. It's hard to say whether this will affect the result, but we can hope that it will be a factor.
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/fifa-appoints-senegalese-refs-japan-belgium-clash/ Now we are really screwed
Lets just hope for the best. Even without the referee, the chances of Japan progressing is not very high in the first place. Belgium's starting XI are among the best in this tournament.
Belgium NT's official Twitter account accidentally tagged WWE Japanese star Shinsuke Nakamura while quoting Januzaj taking about Kagawa. 🗣️ @adnanjanuzaj : "@ShinsukeN is a good guy and a great player. I am looking forward to seeing him"#REDTOGETHER #WorldCup 🔜 #BELJPN— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) June 30, 2018
Belgium and its supporters are full of vanity and arrogance to the point they are ignorant about Japan. If I'm not a Japan NT fan I will still wish that Belgium will lose tomorrow, as how they are overrated and arrogant and how even neutral people rate Japan lightly (as if it is San Marino or Gibraltar) is way too annoying. Go Japan and teach them (and the whole world) a lesson in hardwork, dedication and humbleness.
The way the draw has opened up today, if only Japan had went all out for the win against Poland, but then that could have changed the results today. But today shows you that anything can happen, Russia beating Spain? Of course Japan can beat Belgium. Looking forward to the match tomorrow, hoping for the biggest result in Japanese football history
I think all this shit will be to our advantage: - Being underestimated is always an advantage; - Being arrogant and ignorant is more or less always a disadvantage; - Referee from Senegal could accidentally direct the match at our advantage just to don't appear adverse to the team that eliminated his nation from the WC; - If Januzaj will play in place of Mertens/Hazard It will be far better for us; - If Japan will win JFA could answer with a tweet with a mispelling belgium name as "Congratulations to Moron Fellaini and the whole BelgiumNT to make us broke another record in this WC".
I hope Japan has trained for penalties. Could be the deciding factor. I was surprised that Spain and Croatia went to penalties in their respective matches. Thought both of them would win easily. Surprised at Russia knocking Spain out with their squad.
Cant stop thinking about it. If Japan just would have given two fcks against Poland and wanted to win that game they would have ended up on the "easy" side of the play off tree....