You should really keep Aguirre. I've watched Japan at Asian Cup since 2004 but their performance itself was the best I've ever seen. Much better than 2011. I think Japan tends to... 1) win the title when they play crap. (2004, 2011) 2) lose the title when they play well. (2007, 2015)
Confed' Cup 17 = will have 2 Oceania teams . How lucky for me, Korea Rep lost was a big lost for all Asian countries too . Until when Asian had only 4 top teams (Japan, Korea Rep, Iran, Aussies,) .. ?? today, was a huge disappointment for Asian football
level of the cup was a little bit weak I felt. Still think we were the best team of the field. I was scared South Korea might have gotten better, but their whole play doesn't really come together.
Japan is stronger than Australia since 2011. Australia lives thanks to Cahill and their physical play, nothing to be proud of... UAE bear the cup to Australia cuz this SK was weaker then Japan as any other arab team of the final 8.
Australia easily beat UAE, and they lost Cahill in the middle of the game , but they scored and won aginst S.Korea. They are the best and strongest team in AFC this time. Maybe Iranian have reason to think differently as they played with ten men , but Japan should only blame themselves .
Player wise of course Japan are the strongest team in Asia. Australia are a shadow of themselves compared to when they had players such as Kewell, Viduka, Bosnich, Emerton and so on. The home field advantage helped Australia, yet I would have liked to see what would happen if they had played Japan or Iran.
Given the fact that our manager, Stielike, has been in charge for only 5 months and that our squad was very limited (which only got worse as the tournament progressed), I think we did a decent job. Compared to Australia where their manager, Postecoglou, has been in charged for more than a year now and that they had a full squad without any injuries. tbh, yesterday finals could have been a Japan-Iran final and I agree with Saku that Japan did have the best team in the tournament (in terms of cohesion). If you watched the match yesterday, you would have noticed that both, Australia and Korea, had many sloppy passes and possessions. Didn't really feel like a final until Son Heung-min scored the 90+1 min equalizer. Also, I noticed that some of you guys were overhyping Tim Cahill. I am going to be brutally frank here, but he is nothing really special. (No offense to any Tim Cahill fans or Aussie fans) Our team faced him twice and our defender, Kwak Tae Hwi, who is pretty much blind in one eye, had no trouble defending him. If anything, Australia's best player is their GK, Matthew Ryan.
We are talking about Cahill in his prime. He was a beast for Everton back then. Jnt needs someone like him imo. Good with physical play and a beast in the air.
Still don;t change the fact that he was very good in his prime. Overall, despite a lack of trophies, he still performed throughout his career. Everton fans liked him a lot.
If he struggled to get past our mediocre defender like Kwak Tae-hwi, what makes you think he'll do better against teams with better and much organized defending?
Everton fans liked him a lot can be translated into: fans of a middle of the pack team liked their 10 goals a season striker a lot. Very good player for Australia but he never came close to winning a Ballon d'Or. Luongo was very good too.
Amazingly, Cahill was actually one of the 50 players nominated for the Ballon d'Or in 2006. He didn't receive any votes, and of course was never going to get close to winning it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballon_d'Or_2006 Possibly his heroics against Japan that year had something to do with the nomination
Don't take it the wrong way, it's not like any japanese player has ever come close to winning it either. Congratulations by the way, I'm jealous of that moment of euphoria. And disappointed we won't get to play the Confederations Cup.
No, not at all. Your post just reminded me of his nomination (the Aussie press made a big deal about it at the time - claiming that he was the first Australian with a chance at winning it to the bemusement of anyone who knew anything about football). Cahill has always been quite a limited player. He has made a career out of utilising what strengths he has very well. Thanks for the congratulations. I was at the game and it was a great night . I am sure that with the team you guys have you will not have to wait long for your next moment in the sun. Not that you can complain, 2011 was not that long ago!
well he scored about some pretty damn good opponents in the world cup from what I remember. Not sure I agree. One of the best players in "asia" in my book.
I am talking about his overall career. The reason why he is regarded is because of his career, not just currently as he is 35 now. In his prime, he was good no doubt.
So according to this, our team has a better defense than Chile and the Netherlands? (i kid) I do agree with you on one thing though. In Asia, where it is hard to find strikers who possess the same aerial threat as Cahill, I guess he is considered one of the best striker in "Asia". Sure, I agree that he has had an admirable career, but my first comment was talking about his performance in the Asian Cup not his overall career. Also, before I attract any more Aussie lurkers to this thread. When I said "nothing really special", I did not mean Cahill was bad. He is a good player, but he did not have a fantastic tournament (in my book). He was only an aerial threat against sub-par Middle Eastern countries and China.
I know you're joking but I don't think a player can score every match, it's like saying that Messi sucks because he was a shadow in 2010's WC Yeah but I don't like the downplaying game too much either. He's just really good. I mean, a mediocre player like Joshua Kennedy has been Jleague top scorer. Cahill is PL material and actually... I'm not even sure if there's a striker in asia that could score 10 goals in PL actually right now (I am not considering players like Okazaki who are in Europe already) so go figure. Unless I missed something this was your first post: you were talking about the match but you also said people were overhyping him. I didn't see the match but probably your "mediocre defender" just did a good job instead this time, why not give props to him. Or he had a bad day. you also added: which tbh is just picking out a game for the sake of an argument which could be disproved by just looking at the last world cup (and he's 35)
After what Messi did to us in the '10 WC, I don't think any Korean fan would say he sucks. Given the fact that Cahill had played in the BPL for 15 years and had a decent scoring record in the BPL, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have a hard time playing there right now despite his limited stamina. Fair point about giving our defenders some credits. I mean it's rare to see our cb's do well, but, then again, they did have some mistakes that gave me heart attacks. (One example would be Kwak trying to clear ball by heading it forward, but instead it went backwards into our penalty box.) Also, I guess you found me out. As I was writing my first comment, my mindset was on his performances in some of his Asian Cup matches. I did not think about the his '14 WC performances because that was 5 months and it was a very "forgettable" WC for us. (I'm pretty sure that it applies to you guys as well.) Anyway, before anymore Tim Cahill fans chase me with their pitchforks and torches, I just wanted to give you guys an update on where he might end up. There is a lot rumours right now, in China, saying that he will sign for Shanghai Shenhua. I'm pretty sure the man wants to earn his well deserved paycheck.