More Japanese players are playing in Europe now than in 2010 World Cup when they surprisingly went to the Round of 16 and almost to Quart Finals. Using this as a measurement I would say Japan is definitely one of the countries that moved the quality of its players forward on average. I would say they have more quality players for this world cup than any other. But the question is are they prepared for the world cup. Have the same players been playing together, or do they have a coach who was doomed to fail from the beginning?
Clad are you joking? Any other country, in the World? The problem is that our best former players like Kagawa, Honda, Nagatomo etc. now are in decline and actually there's no replacement for them (aka no young talented player at european level in perspective). Add that the most of japanese players in europe are subs or benchwarmers and you will have a picture of our situation (from european pov). Several factors have influenced that historical goal: - Okada, almost resigned a month before the WC, change his (failure) plans and make a bet, winning it. Not everytime you win a bet. - Honda was at his top and succeded in the totally improvised and crucial role of false 9/fw no fw give him by Okada the gambler. - Endo also was at his top and we know that despite any effort 3 coaches in a row didn't find a successor for his role. - Kawashima, desperately chosen randomly at the last moment cuz he save a pk on Gerrard, was immense. I doubt Higashikawa/Nakamura/Nishikawa/whoelse will improve some days before the competition as he did. - Tulio and Nakazawa was unexpectedly perfect. This point, at least, can still happen since Yoshida and the other CB (another hole in the lineup) can unexpectedly perform well too. - We were the underdogs and our players know and feel it. While in 2014... In this same forum we speculated on own many goals we would have defeated the ivorians. Then shit happens. The same old story of 2006. To answer your question: I think we are NOT ready yet and a lot will depends by our group stage opponents. I think sincerely that Vahid will have a little impact on our destiny in Russia, probably choosing the right or wrong benchwarmers.
Imo, you can't get based the JNT's success rate on how many players playing overseas. No doubt having more players in Europe would increase their level but then Japan's team in 2014 was also mainly European-based and they performed worse than 2002 and 2010 where most of the team were mainly from the J-league. Japan need to sort out the CM/DM and maybe also the GK issue first.
but you are the one trolling... you're not really following what's going on, otherwise it would be impossible to explain your post. As for Clad's question, there is no answer. It's true that Japan has more quality players than ever but the world cup is such a short competition with so many variables (key players getting injured, the group's draw, etc.) that it's not possible to predict that Japan will or make it or not. Remember how Italy won the WC in 2006 and were out at the group stages in 2010...
I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic. This team plays ugly football but I think the current style of play works better in the World Cup than it does in Asia.
I don't think the number of European based players isn't the best parameter to judge the strength of a national team. There are good teams like Costa Rica and Iran who have less players in the top leagues than Japan. Having said that, I think Japan's squad has improved moderately. Japan has good depth in attack. The top 3 forwards (Osako, Okazaki and Muto) are proven in the top leagues. Inui is a successful dribbler in Spain who has the potential to be a game-changer late in matches. In defense, Nagatomo declined but instead Yoshida improved a lot. He has even benched Dutch international CB (Hoedt) at Southampton. Shoji is a much better CB than Morishige in 2014. Sakai is doing well at Marseille. This week La Liga Inui - started Shibasaki - injured (usually starts) Premier League Yoshida - started and scored a goal Okazaki - started Bundesliga Kagawa - started and scored a goal Muto - started and scored a goal Osako - started and scored a goal Haraguchi - started and assisted a goal Sakai - started Ito - started Asano - stayed on the bench Hasebe - injured (usually starts) Kamada - not on the bench Serie A Nagatomo - started Ligue 1 Sakai - started Kawashima - started Portuguese Primeira Liga Nakajima - started Belgian First Division Kubo - started and scored a goal Morioka - started and scored a goal Eredivisie Doan - started and scored a goal Kobayashi - started
Sometimes True Samurai's are born during the actual battle. That is to say, for some reason, often many players and countries rise up to the occasion only when it matters most. The human spirit is unusual like that. I think that is what happened in '10 WC
Russia is huge. The location of the base camp is important. The JFA idiots chose a wrong city as their base camp last time to kiss the ass of their biggest sponsor KIRIN. Japan's fitness was incredibly poor in 2014 because of that stupid decision. A Japanese journalist in Brazil who is familiar with the geography of the country warned before the WC that Japan would lose all three games in group stage. ２０１４年Ｗ杯・日本は必ず調整不良で全敗する http://www.100nen.com.br/ja/sasai/000233/20140112009616.cfm http://www.100nen.com.br/ja/sasai/000233/20140112009617.cfm
I was talking about european top leagues, people in Belgian/Eredivisie/Poruguese leagues can barely (if not) make the JNT call and they have nearly 0 chance to be in the starting XI in Russia. Kagawa, Nagatomo, Kawashima, Kubo are not starter anymore. They can start some match and be benched on the next 2+. Shibasaki, Haraguchi and Sakai (Gotoku) are NOT starter at all since they play most of the matches as subs. Then from the pool you choose the others are: Yoshida, Okazaki, Muto and Hiroki Sakai that are actually starting in their teams with Inui and Osako that starts but in the underdog probably relegated team of their leagues. At the end of the day we had 4 starters (5 if you count Hasebe as one) and none of them are (imo) at Kagawa/Honda/Nagatomo level at their top.
Your posts are too stupid to be taken seriously.... For exmaple, according to you, Shibasahi plays most of the matches as a substitute but he has played 4 games with 4 starts. 0 substitute appearances.
That's news to me. I also felt that Japan's fitness wasn't up to its standard compared to 2010. Just ignore him. Don't waste your precious time.
Sorry my fault about Shibasaki I make confusion with the stats. Now, you don't agree with whatever I wrote in my answer to Clad? Try to write some lines instead of turn berserk for whatever reason you have. I never use harsh terms with you nor others in this forum and I think you should do the same.
Your time must be not precious since you answer me right? Then find some seconds, since I don't remember your profile and don't know who are you, to explain why you are so mean with me. Some need to show your e-penis on the forum? We talk about soccer, you talk like we were on a politics board.
I havent participated on this forum lately, I have been reading it and naturally I keep track of football and Japanese players. I'll be honest here with my opinion and say that Japan's national team currently is definitely not in a good shape, nor does it play good football. Before WorldCup 2014 Japan definitely was in a better shape, but we know how that ended. So naturally it's a tournament anything can happen, but at the same time if you are playing well if you have a good team, good coach, there is more likely you will do better, it's only natural. I personally am disappointed a bit and maybe I was expecting too much when at one point Kagawa was seen as one of the best AMC players, Honda while still in CSKA was seen as a magical player also, who if only given a chance would do really well in top level club as well. And then you would also have a bunch of these young players who you could almost say were Kagawa material the entire offensive line was booming with them. Kiyotake, Haraguchi, Usami, Osako.... the prospect of Kakitani, then there were players in the J-League you could see doing really well in the future, but now that I look around for me personal in terms of World Cup level I see an average team, definitely not the one to excite, either with it's play, players or potential. And I really do say it with a lot of sadness, as I was like I said maybe expecting too much and hoped year 2014 Japan will show to the world it's talent do well in WC and in year 2018 maybe Japan could even reach that next level, have several players in the biggest teams in Europe, playing key roles. It didnt happen though and I would even go as far as to say that level of JNT today is lower then that of 2014, which does not mean they will not do well in the WC 2018, but it certainly means I have no expectation of this team and honestly speaking am not expecting them reach the round of 16. Sorry for a bit pesimistic post, but I am trying to be a realist here, even though I dont like what I am writing myself...
I really wish Yasuhito Endo can play in this World Cup. He adds a lot of experience. But now he is too old.
Halil also isn't an optimist. The game against Australia is the ground level for what he would like to see in Russia.
The talent is there, almost to much. Vahid needs to have a starting 11 in his head, I am 100 % he is doesn't. The 2 CBs should have been fixed long time ago also, but no.