I think Scotland could beat Japan. The match will be lots different from this one--more open--but I think Scotland has more offensive firepower and will score.
Nadeshiko do not play that way through midfield. If Utsugi had played today she would have done the same thing. Pass the ball sideways or backwards. The holding midfielders are there pretty much to mop up. It is an ongoing point of frustration for myself and some other people on the Nadeshiko thread.
Well, that's about stupid if we cut ourselves options from using the middle. There are times when players need to be clever enough to know when it's time to throw the gameplan in the garbage bin.
I wouldn’t mind it if the stars represented the country’s stars (i.e. men’s and women’s together) but then the men’s teams from countries like the US and Norway and Japan would have to wear the “women’s” stars. Would they do that?
Drifted in and out on this one, but wow, you could see what that point meant to Argentina. Without veteran players, as the minutes start to run out, the pressure starts to squeeze. Maybe Japan really only cares about the upcoming Olympic Games? The announcers mentioned that several times, but I had a hard time believing a country would use a World Cup as a testing ground. Gotta dance with the team you brought tho. Are there adjustments for Japan?
Seriously, anyone who thinks that the World Cup should be a testing ground for the Olympics needs to give his or her head a wobble, especially people within the JFA. Nothing should stand above the World Cup. I couldn't care less about the Olympics until we come to that point in time. But until then, it should be all "**** the Olympics"! Coach Takakura deserves the sack if she doesn't get beyond the group stage.
It's hard to play combinations around the 18 when every attacker gets taken down to the ground once they touch the ball. It takes a real genius of a coach, a Mourinho-level genius, to figure out that no one else notices it, especially not the referees. The stat of the match: 6 fouls called against Argentina, as many as were called against Japan by Stephanie Frappart, who I've always thought a mediocre referee. I usually like underdogs, too. I know what it's like to root for them but I don't like cynical defense - clutching/grabbing/body-checking like in ice hockey. And I don't like referees who reward that kind of anti-soccer. Stephanie Frappart is a mediocre referee under almost any circumstances but she was certainly played for a stooge by Argentina's coach today.
Yuki Nagasato has looked really good for the Chicago Red Stars. I was really disappointed by Sugita today. I thought she was good against the US at the She Believes Cup so I was expecting more out of her.
Sugita is doing what she has been told. To be honest this season she has not been so good for her club team. Nagasato is class, but it seemed like she did not want to play for Japan anymore. However, I just read a recent article where maybe she is ready to return. It would have been nice if she had decided this a bit earlier. Even if Nagasato did play I still think she would be stifled in midfield right now given the way Japan play, but she would definitely be an upgrade.
Agree--the Olympics have become a joke, really. It's now nothing more than a made-for-TV event with the organizer keen to keep it relevant by adding Gen X events, like BMC bike racing, to attract young people. To me, the Olympics have lost a lot of credibility--and with respect to football/soccer, winning the Olympics doesn't hold a candle to the World Cup. It should be noted that both organizing groups, FIFA and Olympic Organizing Committee, have absolutely stunk of corruption for a long time. Picking Qatar to host the World Cup--a decision greased by the passing of much dirty money to FIFA officials--is but one example.
I watched only the second half. I was immensely impressed by Argentina’s mental strength and physical discipline to execute the plan. People hate the bus, but when you see it executed to perfection, IMO the effort is worth admiring.
IIRC, we had that discussion in 2011 after Germany won their second WC (2007). Some countries were still wearing the men's stars, others not. And there was a question as to why Brasil would wear the men's stars, but the US Men won't wear the women's stars.
It’s not that the Olympics are more important in anyone’s mind that the World Cup so much as the Olympics will be hosted in Japan. That was the suggestion made (right or wrong).
Hey guys, My condolences to @blissett as he definitely deserved a better match, traveling all the way there to see it live and all. I don't buy all the excuses that the manager is really aiming for the 2020 Olympics, as great as that sounds with Japan hosting, the Women's World Cup 2019 needed to be the aim and then carry that momentum into being the hosts. Every-time commentators mentioned Japan is really aiming for the Olympics, it made me cringe because Japan is so much better than that. They are so much better than this and I know it's difficult to break bunkers but Japan can break bunkers, I know they can. Aya Miyama has said many times that she's not "unretiring" and she's content and doesn't miss being on the nat'l team now. If she had it still mentally to go through the process of continuing, I'd bet she would have made a great veteran that Sawa was for the team and she wouldn't have been too old to do it. So it wasn't an age thing, or a "I can't physically do it anymore" thing, it seemed like it was a mental thing for her. She was ready to just move on and allow the next chapter to make their way in. That's just my amateurish observation and I would welcome people that know her way better than I do to correct me if I'm not reading Miyama well. Well actually I do have fond memories of Miyama playing for our defunct Los Angeles Sol team, that crazy Summer of 2009 and I have a picture of her in her LA Sol kit where she graciously signed her name and shook my hand. I'll never forget that day all the fans got to meet the LA Sol players and boy was that a women's all star team! Miyama, Boxxy, Ali Wagner, Marta! I mean could you believe our midfield? Karina LaBlanc was our goal keeper! Geez I just realized both Wagner and LaBlanc are now commentators working for Fox Sports. Anyway, I'll turn off my nostalgic motor now..... That being said, this is Japan's first game and we shouldn't do doom and gloom for any teams first game. Expectations weren't met and yes, these kind of "upsets" are concerning for teams that are expected to be in the top 5 finishing at the WWC. But I believe, Japan can beat Scotland and still get through into the knockout stages, just not the path they thought they were going to be in. Scotland and Argentina are no pushovers and neither are some of these other lower ranked FIFA teams with the exception being South Africa in this current WWC. That's a good thing, the women's game isn't so lopsided anymore in the World Cup. Lastly, I'm optimistic for Japan, they always find a way to get through and I believe they will.
It's good for the women's game that we get a little bit of a chaos World Cup this go round so it's great to see results like Italy yesterday Argentina today
At my age, hair is too much precious to pull it out, but for sure I was screaming and shaking my head in frustration! You will all excuse me, guys, if I copy/paste a report I just posted on the Nadeshiko Japan's thread, but it's quite late here at the airport in Paris, while I wait for the flight in the early morning that will bring me back in Milano, and I am too much tired to produce another piece (let alone the fact that I'd anyway say basically the same things in it anyway ). I thank everyone for the condoleances and I'll try to answer some posts' observations here and there, while I am her typing at a lttle table. So, here are the words I wrote on the Nadeshiko Japan's thread, for all of the people who don't use to follow it: "Midnight at the airport in Paris. As you can imagine, I am comprehensibly disappointed and frustrated by Japan's performance from today. You basically already said everything, guys, but I've got the feeling that the match as seen at the stadium appeared even worse. The first half was a nightmare, but even in the second, when our team actually pushed a little better, I had the feeling that they would have never scored even if the game had dragged on for hours... I never followed Estefanía Banini close enough to know if it's usual that she's played as a winger; anyway, putting her on Argentinian Left-Side was a key move, because it forced Shimizu to defend and it limited her contribution to offense in first half (she tried some runs on our Right-Side, but she was always comprehensibly worried by Banini). Banini even drew some fouls, and, although the referee's managing of Yellow Cards didn't persuaded me, there is no doubt that our girls weren't as clean with their tackles as we're used to see them. By the way, with three YCs in a single game, we can probably say goodbye to the Fair Play Award, that, as you surely know, is something very dear to my heart... What @FanOfFutbol said about young players at the debut in the world's major competition is probably true: Moeka Minami successfully guided Nadeshiko defense at U-20 WWC last year, so she shouldn't be new to high international pressure, but in the first half she made a boatload of unforced mistake. And she wasn't the only one. In second half, it's very possible that I've seen Sameshima's performance with rose-tinted glasses, but she seemed to me one of the few whose contribution to the offense was constant and who had an actual sense of urgency about what was happening on the pitch, what most of her team-mates seemed to lack (the importance of being a veteran, as we were saying: don't get me started about having Miura has an holding midfielder in the starting 11). I guess Iwabuchi's and Endo's substitutions were much too late: they could have been game changers if made earlier (Takarada for Sugasawa in the last minutes didn't change much, instead). Argentina never really managed to be dangerous (there were long stints when I've seen Yamashita doing stretching to remain fit, while the game was constantly developping on the other side of the pitch only), but, on the other hand, neither did we. Anyway, I don't want you to think that I am too much sad, guys: being in Paris has been a wonderful experience, there were about 22.000 supporters on the standings and the atmosphere was wonderful. It's a shame that I didn't manage to make significant photos, because I was on the opposite side of the stadium to the one where the benchs were and national anthems were played and I had a low brilliant sun directed right on my camera. Anyway, my seat was very good, in the central part of the lower tribune. I met Mr. Tetsuo Murayama, the Japanese fan who follows Nadeshiko Japan around the world that I had met last summer in Concarneau and we chatted for a little while before the game. I even managed to put my hands on three different collectible plastic-glasses of the World Cup! So, now I am sad to say that I feel like it's very likely that Japan's World Cup will end early, not because the situation is actually impossible to overcome, but because the team I've seen today can't seem to make it vs Scotland and England and looked weaker than most of the big teams I've seen here in France. But, anyway, it was really worth coming here in Paris and feeling the WWC atmosphere at least for a little while. ".
That foul happened in front of the standings where I was sitting and I have to say that the first impression was that Banini had indeed exaggerated the contact. It's entirely possible that video footage proves me wrong: I am only telling you what was the impression from my seat (and people around me apparently agreed). I'll be very happy to stand corrected if that's the case. What I can say for sure is that Sugita slapped Banini inadvertently and it wasn't intentional at all. It is true that Japan's players weren't sharp today, but I have to say that overall I was quite unsatisfied by Frappart's standards of judgement...
I am quite sad to add that Italy is another example of a team showing the four stars of men's NT on the jersey of the women's team also. And, of course, that's not something I am proud of: I agree with those who say that men's team and women's team should have each their own respective stars.
FIFA official highlights of the game (it's funny: since at the stadium I was sitting at the opposite side to the cameras, it all looks reversed to me! ):
Well, the prerequisites are different. There are situations where you just cant field enough veterans. Of course it is more difficult to cope with your first WC when there arent as many veterans around you. But that doesnt mean one way or another is the better one. What matters is how well the youngsters can manage to make the step to a pro footballer competing in do-or-die scenarios. At the very least some players learned yesterday that playing in a WC is tough even against minnows and that the big players are not going to save your ass. That not everything works out right from the start. Thats a very valuable lesson in the longterm.