SANTOS IS NOT A STARTER FINALLY!!! Tanaka is gone too. He is replaced by Tsuboi. Sorry Gamba but they are using a 3-5-2 with Ono alongside Fukunishi, so no Endo. http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/hl?c=japansoccer&a=20060217-00000030-spnavi-spo a Kubo and Maki 2-top seems interesting.
Predicted line-up G Kawaguchi - Jubilo Iwata D Nakazawa - Yokohama F.Marinos D Miyamoto - Gamba Osaka D Tsuboi - Urawa Reds M Kaji - Gamba Osaka M Fukunishi - Jubilo Iwata M Ono - Urawa Reds M Murai - Jubilo Iwata M Ogasawara - Kashima Antlers F Kubo - Yokohama F.Marinos F Maki - JEF United Chiba
I know, he used to be good though... Well Maki scored so he gets the start, and I guess Zico wants to try 2 tall guys since Finland is a tall team.
When i think about it i'd probably expect a lot more from Tsuboi than Tanaka, I think Tanaka's run in the National team needs to end soon for the sake of the world cup
I think Tsuboi would be ok against Australia and Croatia, but he'll be beaten too easily by those Brazilians.
They are controlling play right now but Finland is boxing in on D......25 looks like a thug for them.....just a chopper. Kubo is about a half step slow on everything right now.......good positioning but no burst at the end