Japan’s XI vs Uruguay: GK Kawashima. DF Iwata - Ueda - Tomiyasu - Sugioka. MF Miyoshi - Shibasaki - Abe - Itakura - Nakajima. FW Okazaki. 6 changes from last match. Kubo, Hara, Maeda, Osako, A.Ueda, and Nakayama out. Miyoshi, Iwata, Abe, Kawashima, Okazaki, and Itakura in.
Qatar is playing slow and w/o any effort to accomplish something. Queiros is a good manager, I hope he didn't give up pressed by Conmenbol gangsters.
Argentina won, Qatar had a missed pk and probably Foyth deserved to be red carded but Qatar didn't shoot a single time in the whole second half after a first half where they simply walk on the pitch. Really if tomorrow Japan will play this way it will be very irritating. Not a good spot for AFC by the WC2022 host nation.
After Brazil, Colombia provided the result that Japan needed, kudos to them. A little worry when Colombia fielded a team of substitutes except for Falcao and Cuarado, but surprisingly they still won comfortably, 1-0 was too little for all the chances Colombia created, Paraguay could not handle them despite needing a win. Colombia alongside Brazil are the most impressive teams in group stage imo. Don't know what Queiroz told these guys but all the players, from the stars to the substitutes worked extremely hard for the team. The attacking options are redundant and the substitutions fit in well, known what they had to do and performed. Compare to Argentina, they are miles ahead organization-wise. That is what a team should be, not just a bunch of high profile players who can not function with each others. Unlucky for them, they may face a stronger opponent in QF than Argentina despite playing better. It shows how much the role of luck is in cup tournament.
Chile defeated Colombia after penalty shot-outs to make it to the semifinals. Chile was the better team, outshooting Colombia 13-4, having more possession, and they had 2 goals disallowed by dubious VAR decisions. So far, both Chile and Uruguay are the best teams in this year’s Copa, a thing which gave us a proof of how strong Japan’s group was and how good Japan’s Olympic team performed. Japan’s scoreline against Chile was harsh and did not reflect the actual performance of both teams, with Chile being way too opportunistic and lucky with their chances, while Japan were wasteful and unlucky, with some particular players such as Nakayama performing really bad. Not to mention that Japan team did not have enough time to prepare before this match, and it was Moriyasu’s first time testing those players at the international level, hence, it was way too experimental, unlike the two other matches against Uruguay and Ecuador, The fair scoreline of such a match would have been either a draw, or 1-2 goals difference win for Chile.
Yeah after the result between Uruguay - Chile and how Colombia comfortable rested their players in last group stage's match this result was a bit of a shock for me. If Uruguay does their business against Peru, a rematch between Uruguay and Chile will show the true face of both teams. If anything I think it just highlights how strong mentality this Chile is. If they performed like they used to in the group stage, I can not imagine how they could have an upper hand against Colombia. They actually raised their game a lot in knock out stage when it really matters.
VAR at this Copa America is quite awful. Tonight 3 Uruguayan’s goals were disallowed vs Peru. The match finished 0-0, and they are to play PKs.
Uruguay deserved that karma backlash for what they steal from Japan (2 points and pass to the ko stage). I was betting for Chile since the very beginning and if Argentina will win against Brazil is 90% done.
They didn't? Look like I jinxed every team I gave a little bit of credits. Perhaps I should have told Ayase Ueda is sh!t or kept my mouth shut about Nakajima or Kubo
I think part of this is due to the fact that African players are playing with more energy and seem not afraid of risking being injured. While South American, especially star players, are playing conservatively as they seem afraid of getting injured and both missing and messing their status with their European clubs (with the exception of players who are/were trying to impress to find new clubs such as: Alexis Sanchez and James Rodrigues). That is why I think you find African Cup better than Copa America, because African Players are more adventurous. In the end, the technical level of the teams and individual talent are clearly better among South American teams.
Full Time: Chile 0-3 Peru. Peru delivered a spectacular performance to thrash Chile. Peru is a very good team, they and Morocco were unlucky to be knocked out at the group-stages in the 2018 World Cup. Peru outplayed France, Denmark, and Australia, but were unlucky to lose against France and Denmark because of their bad finishing. They entered the Copa America competition with the same attitude they had in the WC, but they turned things around and improved significantly after they lost against Brazil 5-0, as this defeat was a wake-up call. I will be rooting for Peru in the final.