I think Troussier is behind the game with his 3back system... but seems to me he knows the players a lot better than Okada I wonder how many matches Troussier has attended compared to Okada.
I bet if he took over a month ago he'd get farther than Okada will. But agree, he is an attention whore. What exactly does he do anyway ? (is he still involved with FC Ryukyu ?)
Yeah. He's still doing nothing. No, wait, he writes a column on the website everyweek The rest of the time, he's negociating with other teams. Best way to respect your employer (even if he's a Yakuza). I saw a television report about him, his life in Okinawa blah blah blah. Attention whore, sure he is.
[LINEUP-4-4-2]Okazaki, Morimoto, S.Nakamura, Endo, Hasebe, Honda, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Tanaka, Uchida, Kawaguchi[/LINEUP-4-4-2] Subs: Narazaki Gomano Iwamasa K.Nakamura Abe Matsui Tamada
There is hope, it goes like this: In the middle of the night someone kidnaps Okada and tells the national team if you lose, we will make Okada your coach for life. The players then start winning games in fear of having to actually play for the clown. As for Trouisser, I'd have him back in a heartbeat. I've always loved his coaching style and tactics. I still remember the time he told Miyamoto to get lost for getting injured during a training match. Gotta love it!
Attention whore or not, I agree. Any drama like that makes it more interesting. Japan do need a tyrant as a coach. You think he was bad, think about other coaches for the National teams of Europe. when big Phil Scolari was coaching Portugal in the past he worked them hard.
I just think Japan should hire a Kendo 8-dan for their soccer coach. The guy would work the players to death, and have no problem yelling at them. Sure he would have pretty much zero soccer knowledge, but hey that already puts him about equal with Okada.
You can see that kind of shift in JapanNT, I think Goru mentioned before, that even though the 2002 team was not the best, they had courage, guts and attitude where this current set up lacks it.
That would be awesome. I can see it when they start to hang their heads after some incident -- and he let's loose a verbal barrage. Having a guy like that as an assistant or trainer should be required if they are going to persist with this "blue Samurai" charade.
How hard can it be to motivate players? Just threaten them with running and they'll do whatever you want them to do. That always worked on me.
Unfortunately, with Japanese players self-confidence is not a given. Troussier wasn't the best coach ever, but (also thanks to a very good translator, I might add) was very good at pushing players to their limits. I really regret that since 2002 that has decreased with Zico and Osim (who used other methods) and in particular with Okada, who doesn't have self-confidence in himself, to begin with. At a very youth level (U12), I have the following experience: I picked a team mainly composed by Japanese players that had ended 14th out of 14th in the league. I worked on self-confidence, motivation and identity. With the addition of two good players only, the following season we ended third in the league and we were finalists in the Cup. Psychology is not all in soccer, but it is definitely the missing link in Japanese soccer, now that tactics have been improved a lot. That is why the choice of Okada by the JFA showed gross incompetence, and we should hope for a real bad-ass coach for the future. The best possible choice would be imho Dunga, but Peckerman could be great to develop youngsters. Among those already in Japan, Nishino, Jofuku and Olivera would all be good choices, imo, the latter in particular. I would not recall Troussier, Zico or Osim. IMO, they have already given their contribution, and we need to move forward.
It just shows how far away we still are from doing well at the World Cup. We won't be doing very well until this changes. I know Troussier was magnificant at motivating players but if Nakata was not on the field, Troussier would not have been as effective. Managers can only do so much from the dressing room and the sideline. In the end, it was Nakata who made sure no heads dropped when Wilmots scored. There needs to be at least one player on the field that can carry what the manager says on to the field. We don't have that this time around. Add what you said about Okada and no one should be surprised with our form.
If guys like Tulio and Honda had been given more of a role, I think we would have that. Instead it was the likes of Naka, Nakazawa, Endo, etc. who were the "leadership".
Not that Japan doesn't have gutsy players at all... Makino, Mori, Nozawa, Ogasawara, Shigematsu, Kaji... Just to say a few. Maybe not all of them, but a couple more, no? Speaking of which, I hope Kawashima gets the starting spot. In my eyes he earned it for the yell after saving the PK, and also for how he cheered up Tulio--and that wasn't probably easy...
A true leader would have taken the role himself and not wait for someone to give it to him. All those players are fighters, not leaders. Matsuda and Toda were as big a fighter as we've ever had but they were no Nakata in terms of leadership on the field. I think Makino and Honda are the only ones capable of being a leader like Nakata but Makino is not ready yet and Honda can't lead Japanese. But yea, we can use a few more fighters on this team. I am down for Kawashima starting as well. Narazaki is more consistant but Kawashima can pull miracles...although he can also give up easy ones. Kind of like Kawaguchi.
We still have a Word-Cup to play. And until that, this gross incompetence is not proven. And leaders are not the problem IMO ... Just look at Tulio, he's screaming all the time. And Honda cannot be a leader right now, he has so many things to fix on his game that he should be focused about that. I would even say he's overconfident.
[LINEUP-4-5-1]Honda, Okubo, Matsui, Endo, Abe, Hasebe, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Tulio, Komano, Kawashima[/LINEUP-4-5-1]