All right I'll bite. That's why I consider 1:0 against Switzerland as a very good result: In UEFA qual. forwards Dickenmann and Bachmann, wingers Crnogorcevic and Humm got between them an impressive number of 36 goals out of Switzerland's 53 total scored in 10 games. Dickenmann alone had 13 assists. During the match against Switzerland, Nadeshikos did an excellent job by cutting out of play both wingers Crnogorcevic and Humm which in turn pulled Dickenmann deeper to the middle of the field (or wide into wings) and left Bachmann alone and without support upfront. I counted only two successfuly executed build up actions were trio Crnogorcevic, Bachman and Dickenmann were involved. Aside from 2 or 3 of Bachmann's raids into Japanese box (during which she always had to face number of DF pushing her outside of goal mouth ) and one time from Crnogorcevic, almost all the rest "dangerous" actions were a weak shots taken by Swiss from outside the box. In my book to dismantle one of two of the best attacking forces in Europe speaks volumes beyond 1:0 result. Please tell me And G what would you consider as a good result vs. Cameroon? And why?
Some initial thoughts of the game. I was again sitting at the southwest corner so I have a good view of the team's bench. The switch from Sakaguchi to Sawa was a quick reaction to the previous misplays in the midfield. I saw Sasaki give a quick gesture to the bench and Sawa had to remove her warmup pants and jacket quickly. So it was a tactical decision rather than a strategic one.
Rumi again was my player of the match. Sameshima also on the leftside complemented well with Rumi. I found that Miyama was virtually invisible during the second half. Sure she would start free kicks and so on but not inspiring or accurate pass to Ogimi. I can see Yuki being frustrated by the short passes that gets intercepted by Cameroon defence.
Yeah, off their result alone, they would still top the group due to goal difference. I'm pretty sure about that, unless mumf comes through and corrects my blunder again
It's very different from what I first thought at that time. I cited some unreliable article about the hard-to-slip turf after that.
Naho got bounced around and basically lost all physical battles. Ohno subbing in showed her in abililty to adapt to the slower playing turf. The ball does play differently by the end of the half. Before each half, the grounds crew would water the turf, which the full team would warm up. Starting players adapt well but I see subs reading the turf speed wrongly.
Now that Nadeshiko had won two matches and likely win against Equidor next week, they should be able to play again in Vancouver on the 23rd. I got tickets to that match as well (round of 16)
Highlights http://moevideo.net/video/57834.5a78dc38c0d744009fbfd01019f9 Edit: Yuki tried to shoot... and failed
Tonight, I shot 1,645 photos and videos. I let you know when I done uploading. This is going to take a long time
Post match my kid got signature from Ariyoshi. And Sameshima came right up to my area and got lots of closeups.
Good job girls! -- I'll be the first to admit that I have been a little disillusioned by Nadeshiko Japan since the 2012 Olympics, but it is stories like this that really makes me like this team, and makes me want to support them over other teams, even now. Okay, maybe I wouldn't feel quite as generous had Enganamouit managed to score an equalizer.
Very interesting observation. Adapting to various turf issues could reveal key to do well at this WWC. I would have expected Kawasumi to do better on turf, since she already played on it in NWSL.
Ogimi played a fine game. Look at the last play of the match to see what she brings to the table, if it wasn't for her, there would be no threat up front. None of the other offensive players have shown enough strength to finish our actions, which is why the count of chances is so dry.
Desperate...? I think that is the wrong word here. It looks like everything went according to plan - I do not doubt Sasaki has one - but lack of attention, maybe a little overconfidence (somehow I doubt that) and a final, last roar of the lion surprised the ladies. There was no-one on the right to protect the wide open space. It looked like the left was better positioned. Anyway... I was going to comment on the USA and Sweden playing so well. Well, they did that in 2011 already when Japan wasn't even a contender for the semi-final. And they kept Sweden in check, if I remember correctly. With the same virtues. Now - Sasaki claims that he has a better team than in 2011. I have to leave that judgement to him and just trust him, as he is a little closer to the team than I am - or any of us. Unless someone is not sharing information. France, Germany, USA, and Sweden are the toughest opponents in this WC. But if Nadeshiko keeps functioning as intended, they can be dealt with. The only issue is that this time they will be prepared.
Yes me too. I recall seeing YT on her during her stay with the Reign and the her success was to be able to read and antecipate passes like a striker. As a MF she's not able escape/dribble to an open area and make that transition pass down field to Ogimi or cross field to Miyama. As soon as she's marked by a single defence player she unable create a route.
On that 90th min. the goal by Cameroon, you can sense something bad was about to happen against Japan 5 minutes before they were back passing and letting the defence playes pass to the open wing. Those back basses were not as crisp and accurate. Cameroon to their credit noticed this sloppiness and pressured the girls into a mistake. We can't do that. There was a loud cheer when Cameroon scored...
Before I go into much detail here, let me clarify that there's a difference between a result (scoreline/points) and performance. The result against Switzerland was okay or even good (3 points), but the performance wasn't. Switzerland had most of the possession and the better chances, while the only Japanese goal came after a questionable penalty. That's the sort of performance you'd expect against Germany or France, not Switzerland. Forget all the statistics about goals scored against teams that didn't even qualify for the World Cup; none of that matters. Switzerland is not a good team. I've never complained about lack of results by the way; everything I criticized about the Nadeshiko has always been about their performance. Now when you look at Switzerland, you'll see a bunch of mediocre players plus two or three that stand out, and a team that is more than the sum of its parts. In contrast, the Nadeshiko are all excellent players that form a team that is much less than the sum of its parts. That's why I'm saying Switzerland performed well, and Japan didn't. Of course you can say that winning against Cameroon with any scoreline is a good result on paper. Three points, qualified for knockout stage in first place, hurrah! But this doesn't change the fact that the performance was abysmal; in fact it is reflected in the scoreline. Against a team like Cameroon, Japan should have won 4-0 or 5-0. Of course you always have to factor in luck, but the reason why Japan scored only 2 goals wasn't bad luck, it was a lack of gameplan, a lack of threat in front of the Cameroonian goal. And likewise Cameroon didn't just get lucky with their goal; rather it was a well-executed move that was part of their gameplan, namely counter-attacking, which is something the Nadeshiko never learned to do properly. In fact Cameroon could have had even more excellent chances if the ARs hadn't flagged some phantom offsides. In particular, there was a scene (1st half I think) where the Cameroonian centre-forward was completely free and running towards the penalty mark and could have had an easy tap-in from a pass from the left wing. Japan really dodged a bullet there. If Japan had played like this against Germany, they wouldn't just have lost, they would have been demolished. That's why 2-1 is a bad result, because it shows just how bad they actually played. Just ask yourself whether those kinds of goals could have been scored against top teams. Would Sameshima have been completely unmarked at the far post? Would Hope Solo have misjudged Miyama's cross? I'm afraid not. As a side note, during the match I saw a replay (not on FIFA highlights) that clearly showed Ogimi trying to connect with the ball; no intentional dummy there. She was almost a second late...
As insignificant as it was, it strengthen Cerezo Osaka Sakai Ladies' position at top of Challenge West, since Shizuoka was, more or less, their only possible contender (actually they hadn't any contender, though ).
Thank you for your insight And G some clarification sounds much better. I asked you about what would you consider as a good result against Cameroon. And why? In other words it's on Sasaki, it's manager's fault. The team doesn't perform as good as they are able to. Simply put they need a new gameplan or a better coach. If that's the case it's a quite strong opinion on a guy that was already criticized before and alwayas delivered when it mattered. But as you have said results aren't all, performance matters. I agree to some extent as performance makes results. From what you have written I surmise that it all boils down to personal expectations really. World Champions should've won 4-0 with Cameroon and do it with style after a brilliant performance of which, we know they're able, (quite an assumption on our part here )because...well they are World Champions and excellent players. Weak performance equals not good result thus 2-1. Your words from below. If Japan would play exactly like that against Germany and Germans played exactly the same as they did with Norway, we would have 2-1 for Japan (4 attempts 2 goals vs. dunno 30? attempts 1 goal - WWC'11 quarters?) with all goals in 1st half and really booring 2nd half. Would Sameshima have been completely unmarked at the far post? And why not? isn't she one of 23 excellent players by your own words. All of a sudden she's not good enough to beat a German defender, because of what? Defender's German? Would the Hope Solo have misjudged Miyama's cross? Don't get me started...like she's never before misjudged Miyama's shoot It's all if's and but's. Expectations, performances and results that's what's real. Let's stick with that. By that logic Germany is not a good team. Mittag, Sasic, Kessler, Marozsan with what? 33 qual. goals out of 62 - it doesn't count? How are they worse of it. They are members of a national team like Dickemann, Bachmann, Crnogorcevic, Bernauer or Abbe for Switzerland. All of above play in top clubs. All. Why is Switzerland not a good team? They certainly played well against Nadeshiko but Japan has stopped them none the less. By one solitary goal instead of two or three. Again expectations. Switzerland had more of the possesion, yes, to be exact 31 minutes of actual playing time in wich they had 13 shots, 3 on goal, 2 blocked and 0 goals. Japan: 25 minutes apt, 15 shots, 3 on goal, 3 blocked, 1 goal. Aprox. every 1m 35sec Nadeshiko crated a chance. Switzerland needed every 2min 18sec to crate one. Had Swiss have better chances? For camera maybe. We scored a goal, hit the post and did make some fuss. Swiss... did make some fuss. Tonite Nadeshiko were walkin in the park and made one error. And you're right in saying that kind of display won't win them the Cup (unless they met Cameroon in final) but if you ask me how can I still think that they would advance to finals I will tell you that we are yet to see what the team is really made of. Nigeria went for it against Sweden - they had to in the group the are. Cost: they didn't show tonite for Australia. Japan doesn't have this problem within this group. Let's use it to our advantage, it's not like Stainhaus will gift us with PK in quarters About Ogimi my take is: she intended to score herself, she didn't obviously but that's why wingers are closing actions at far posts. Not only it's important that she was covered (isn't this team build on that idea?) but also there were at least two strikers/attakers inside a box making 2 chances out of one pass and it's worked again.