Japan XI vs Tunisa; Gonda; H. Sakai, Yoshida, Makino, Fujiharu; Hasebe, Yamaguchi, Kiyotake; Muto, KAWAMATA, NAGAI Interesting team.
Tunisia (4-2-3-1) : Ben Cherifia - Hannachi, S Ben Youssef, Abdennour, Maaloul - Ragued, Sassi - Moncer, Ben Hatira, Chikaoui - Akaichi. The fellow of Takayuki Seto from Astra start in heart of the defense.
Nagai has a good first touch. Kawamata's ball control and dribbling are below Kakitani imo but he is better at physical play and headers.
Halilhodzic should try more CMs/DMs in place of Hasebe than just Shibasaki like Ogihara and Taniguchi. Hasebe, Endo and Hosogai will most likely not play in 2018.
Not too many comments on this. I'm sorry that I didn't see the 1st of Halilhodzic on Japan's bench. I'll definitely see the one against Uzbekistan. Happy for Okazaki.
13 years and it still hasn't changed. this win felt kind of cheap bringing in the stars in the 2nd half. was hoping someone new would score for once.. they even threw in ucchi at the end of the match.
Hopefully he is as experimental as Aguirre. Like that, there is more chances of other new players that are new to the NT playing.
I thought he was ok. Nice little bursts into his opponents feet at times but lots of technical mistakes that show he's still rusty. It was more down than up until that great pass that led to Kawamata's botched shot. Still prefer Hasebe-Shibasaki now.
Makino and Fujiharu did a decent job and Nagai and Muto were pretty good although their precision has to improve. Kawamata did not impress me and his first touch is too bad for this level. I hope that Osako gets his chance against Uzbekistan. Yamaguchi was ok but Shibasaki is certainly better in terms of passing and technique.
Hasebe has been brilliant for Japan and in Bundesliga. His best years as a player came after he turned 30.