Part of FC Tokyo central defence..........relegated. Then part of Gamba Osaka central defence..........relegated. Now part of JNT central defence............9 goals conceded in 3 games (plus hardly a clean sheet for ages). And we don't have a better CB in Japan? He's good at 1v1 defence, but you need more than that against teams able to attack in all number of ways. Also Saku I think I've discussed this with you in a previous thread, the reason why Barca can do that is cause they have other players who are able to contest the high ball in the shorter CB's place if necessary (Busquets). If you're going to compare Konno in JNT with a team that picks a shorter CB then why not compare with Gamba or FC Tokyo when he played for them instead of picking one of the strongest teams in the world.
He was relegated with Consadole Sapporo too. Not that I'm here to bash him, Konno is the King of J2 but I can't see anyone better than him in J1...
You can't see any better as Zac (dunno why Saku take the same position of his hated italian about CB) and the EAFF/friendly matches from now to may 2014 will be the right way to test other options nope?
Nobody will blame Zac at all if he tries out other options, those options fail, and he goes back to Yoshida-J2 Konno despite knowing their shortcomings. If that then is the case he'd have to try Okada-Japan formation. In the meantime, neither Yoshida or Konno will spectacularly fall in ability from not being called up for a few games. Yes imo this puts Tulio back on the cards, and if we get real desperate (say Feb 2014) then Nakazawa if he's doing well in J.League.
How about making a poll for posters who closely follow J1-J2 league week in week out, to choose which are best CBs in Japan right now?
I doubt anyone really watches and goes beyond the reputations, ie Nakazawa and Tulio the legendary pair of majestic phoenix and the rest of the pack, mere mortals.
For the J-League matches I've watched recently, I wouldn't even consider calling Nakazawa or Tulio any more. Testing other players is necessary, but there are not many good options...
You saw that Tulio is playing like shit in the JLeague? He gets exposed every week, and I suspect sometimes he doesn't ever care too much - about defending, I mean (like the Kudo goal I posted many times). He sure likes to score though. Nakazawa... :/. Marinos may be taking few goals but Kurihara is definitely doing better than him. Even today, cross -> he's doing absolutely nothing on Davi. Last week? The same, Osako got past him like a J2 defender. I'll be always grateful for his WC performance but remember that the team was very bad in the months prior to it and then played all on counters. And I remember clearly Okada rotating Nakazawa-Tulio-Konno-Kurihara before the WC too... (with bad results). He is still good but past his prime... Well he tried Kurihara against Mexico and it didn't work... I'll be first to say you can't really judge on one match, but I don't think we'll see Japan becoming a rock in defense with some unfound prospect... As for the Okada-Japan... it won't happen, he's trying to make Japan play offensive, so no... Then when JLeague comes back, please take a look on Yuji and Tulio (not joking\trolling)
I know, it's pretty obvious that Brazil will have a great home advantage. That audience can shake the other team emotional balance and sht
Nope. They have as good or even better players on each position (aside from Casillas, Iniesta or deteriorated Xavi). And team has got immense morale and great team spirit. Best football I've seen this year, matched only by Bayern on club level.
Now you point where I said that Brazil has shitt.y players I'm glad we're seeing the end of an era, an era of spanish domination in football, on the other hand I'm just sad that is Brazil is carrying the torch now, it could be other team.
Neymar was great, man of the match and probably best player at CC. He will be even greater when he stops diving.
So you're also of the opinion the defence needs no looks. 9 goals in 3 games isn't enough reason to look at other options.
Well, Brazil will get out in the quarter-finals round next year. They're not playing as a team and Scolari doesn't have Rivaldo, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho like in 2002. We'll see.
Uh, no? I said Tulio and Nakazawa are nowhere the replacements we need right now. It is a similar situation as Okada, but hopefully the team will improve or we'll be forced again to CounterJapan =/. And it doesn't help, that there are hardly better players in those position in JLeague, unfortunately. Also goals taken per-se don't mean anything. Italy took in this competition, yet they did very well. @ Blue well it was only because because you answered to this post, which was making this point.