HT 0-0 Japan's defense is very good, but nobody is really attacking. Why can't they score off set pieces? Lots of coners and free kicks wasted.
halftime I've been trying to piece together a starting lineup. 3-5-2 I think. Takahara, Suzuki Nakamura, Kaji, Nakata (DM?), Miyamoto, Tanaka? I know Santos and Nakazawa are out there too.
I'm online here. I'm too tired to watch football live lately. I find it funny that trains in the evening are more crowded than usual when a game kicks off at 7:30. No one wants to miss a WCQ on TV. ........Takahara....Suzuki... Santos.....Nakamura.....Kaji ......Nakata....Fukunishi..... Nakazawa Miyamoto Tanaka ..............Narazaki............ Japan needs more speed in attack. Another low scoring game? No change to the starting eleven. Early chance for Japan. Yet another free kick. Japan completely dominates the midfield and does not give any opportunity to Bahrain.
Okay, looks like this, I think. ---------Narazaki----------- Tanaka, Miyamoto, Nakazawa Nakata, Fukunishi Kaji, Nakamura, Alex Suzuki, Takahara Free-kick/corner woes: Nakamura's taking everything. Despite a pretty good long-range blast that just missed wide right, he hasn't shown that he can threaten the goal directly on free kicks even just outside the box. On corners, nobody's getting an separation for decent heading chances.
http://www.footballasia.com/en/comps/worldcup/index.asp?id=38839&cid=1190&mth=3&yr=2005 Blow off him.
Stretching his back of course. If he wants the open air contact to stop, he needs his defenders to stop giving away free kicks. Another nice cross from Santos, and Alex gets dumped a half minute later.
Well, if you're going to shoot directly at the Bahrain keeper, it's nice to kick it hard so he coughs it up momentarily. And on the Bahrain counter, the ref takes out a Nippon defender lol.
Santos fired a great cross from the left side. I think Nakata's defense is superb. Oh, damn, score!!! Both sides are speeding up. Baharin substitution: 18 <- 20
Takahara... How can you miss that!!!!???? 62' Japan is gradually breaking the Bahraini defense line. Bahrain substitution: 29 <- 23
Takahara's shot ... JUST WIDE!!!! attack, attack, attack, attack, just keep attacking!!!! Tamada is ready to join in. YES, SUZUKI goes off! 28 Tamada -> 11 Suzuki It's your time, Tamada. We need your acceleration!
Bahrain's cheap tactics again. Damn, they are getting on my nerves! 1-0 Japan! Haha, that's an own goal by Bahrain. Ugly and embarrassing stuff.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL! Own goal actually, but Japan is up! Piss poor from Bahrain.
Oh, that's a nice shot by Bahrain into Bahrain's goal. A great pass to the goal. Come on, score more goals!! Yellow handed to Mohammed Hussein for taking Takahara down. Bahrain invades the Japanese penalty area once in a while, but the final shot is inaccurate..