Battle of the Titans rejects. But our defense has been solid and the JNT's attack has been the most potent one in the tournament. The match better be good, I bought the tickets already.
Then we already won, but know that aint true haha Also if we would actually care about results all these draws are good. However personally I could care less, I kind of wish to see a good play, but even that is not a priority. Priority is to find those missing pieces of the JNT puzzle ST or better yet STs replacement for Nakamura in AMC department and if needed because of the injuries and the likes in AML AMR MC DCs and replacements for the full backs if needed because of the injuries. Also nice to check your options for the GK
SBs? They are ok. Nagatomo & Uchida starters plus Sakais are good. I agree about the strikers and if Japan will score 3 in any match it will be awesome. I like Kakitani and Kudo too. The worst thing about JNT in CC2013 (imo) was the lack of goals final product. We could easly won against Italy for example.
An average defense too (our defense is still average against a team like Italy). Yoshida is pathetic on the 2nd italian goal. But Yoshida-Konno is really our best couple. We can't find better nowadays.
SBs are good, I am talking about replacements in case of injuries. However ironically we dont have SBs in this tournament anyway, except for Komano and maybe Tokunaga
I think there can be a better couple than Yoshida and Konno. Hopefully Daisuke Suzuki and Chiba get their chance to prove themselves as well.
I know but with a better offensive phase, especially with a better final product, we could win easy probably 5 - 3. I know we lack even in parking the bus but IMHO we can bypass these problems in a simple way: be more concrete near the box and find the net as much as possible. Especially if after this EAFF no better defenders will emerge.
Instead of Kurihara or even Inoha. But I have fallen in love for Inoha since that goal against Qatar in AC2011, so I couldn't be objective on him.
I try to explain my thoughts after the China match: - Someone said EAFF Cup would be the chance to find subs/alternatives to respectively CB (Konno), DMF (Endo) and FW (Maeda); - A lot of people here criticized Zac cuz he called everytime the same players, J2 guys plus "the pole" Maeda and give no chance to J-League alternatives so hyped by the same people; - In the match against China defence was the worst thing on the pitch, Japan take 3 stupid goals by the underdog (but motivated I know) team. Then the J-League based defence simply failed; - In the same match Japan also scored 3 times (near 4). Then the J-League based attack has convinced (me). My conclusion(s): if things continue this way there will be no alternative to Yoshida+Konno and Endo+Hasebe while there will be a LOT to "the pole" & Co. ...Understand?
you know teioh, soccer isn't a game where it's compulsory to play 4-2-3-1. Okada had same problems and simply moved the CAM to CDM, worked like a charm.
The attack definitely were not really convincing, despite their scoring. But I think some have potential. It's pretty hard to judge from one match which they trained just 2 days for. As for defense, we already knew most were not good enough for the real NT anyway (Makino, Kurihara and Komano). And their performance against China makes you even question whether they are worthy as subs for NT. Hopefully they've gotten more used to each other by now and perform better against Australia tonight.
Today, Japan score another 3 goals (but conceded 2). Manabu Saito and Yuya Osako x2. that and Kakitani n Kudo, 4 possible FW to replace the current 2
The biggest harvest from this game is that Toyada and Osako are able to keep the ball and can fill the role of the 'post' player. One of them will probably end with a call up for the games of A team.
After EAFF Cup is over we need to open a poll with the suggested FWs fo JNT enlighted by this competition. Actually: Kakitani (2), Osako (2), Kudo (1) and Saito (1).