Official 2020 Nadeshiko Japan Thread [R] - なでしこジャパン（英語スレッド）

Pressure sir. That's pretty much it - I believe. People tend to forget that those players are mostly 23year olds with already huge expectations laid on thier backs and the future of their WoSo programm in thier legs.

 

Wow, talk about a major setback after 5 wins on the post-World Cup run (Canada being the only "big scalp" claimed by the Nadeshiko during that time). Just quoting Hudson from "Aliens" would be enough to describe how the match went: We just got our ***es kicked, pal. Sure we can talk about how the girls are not even in season mode yet, but preparation still leaves a lot to be desired once again.

Once again, I just don't understand how nor why we cannot stop making those defensive blunders. Those have been worse than the plague. especially when they come from veterans like Kumagai. I hope sharp decisions will be made soon about who should be relied upon or not at the back.

Can't tell how the rest of this tourney will go, but it could be ugly against England then the US.

 

Nadeshiko Japan beaten by Spain despite breathtaking Mana Iwabuchi goal | The Japan Times

 

So I have just watched the game (had no time this morning) and to be honest that was not too bad. As I said yesterday I will be very surprised if Nadeshiko win any games at this tournament. I would say compared to last year this was a better performance.

I want to stress it could have been a lot better, but everybody excluding Kumagai has not played a competitive game since the end of December. I daresay some of the Beleza and INAC players have only been back at training since the beginning of February. Given the way Nadeshiko play they need time to gel and a little bit of patience is needed at this time of the year.

But yes Miyake was terrible along with Endo and Kumagai. Endo played like a player who has never played at left back, which she is. And it shows against good opposition. Sure play her there against South Africa (no disrespect), but otherwise Miyagawa has got to play there against good opposition. Maybe Endo will get better, but I would like to see her play at left back for Beleza, but that is not going to happen.

I think Endo is a good player, but I am starting to think that maybe she has had it just a little bit too easy. She has practically walked into the national team and yet some of her performances for Nadeshiko have been quite poor.

Other than that everybody else played okay. Yamashita was good and made some nice long passes. Nadeshiko tried to mix it up, but in the second half there were times when they were very narrow. Miyagawa in particular ran up and down the left side of the pitch in open space waiting for a pass to come, but it didn't for about fifteen minutes. Just lack of awareness from everybody.

The main difference was sharpness. The Spanish players just looked more at ease and less panicked when making decisions. They have got some good players who are just past the middle of their season, so they are going to be on song.

The US also looked quite sharp today against England. I forgot that they have been playing Olympic qualifiers.

 

They break up the play with a lot of fouls. To be honest it is the right thing to do against better opposition, but I just prefer it when teams just play football. It is starting to creep into the women's game more and more.

It was not so bad against Nadeshiko this morning, but in major competitions they do it a lot. Again I think it is the right thing to do for them if they want to win, but I would prefer not to see it. But you have to make it hard for your opposition and they do that very well.

 

But playing in CONCACAF is simply like playing a series of decent high school teams. There is no quality in CONCACAF except for the US and, sometimes, Canada or Mexico and, for now at least, neither Canada or Mexico offer much resistance to any half way decent team. With the exception that there is danger in playing Canada because Canada plays soccer like they play hockey, hard and sometimes dirty.

 

Yes, but point is USWNT players are well into training cycle now having played competitive games already in last month. Nadeshiko's resumed trainings last week during NT camp after 2 months long hollidays.

 

Alternative explanation....(whether we like to admit it or not)
I think there are various eras in various sports when one team or individual is so successful and so far ahead of the chasing pack that it even appears they are in a league of their own.
I think we are in one of those eras at present with the USNWT and have been for some time and will continue to be
That HURT!

 

The good news for many countries is that the USWNT has many players that are fast approaching their "sell by" date. The bad news for those same countries is that there is a plethora of young players in the pipeline. I have been watching the CONCACAF Women's World Cup qualifying tournament and I have never seen such a dominate performance by any US U20 team. They have qualified for the U20WWC and given up zero goals and scored something like 36 or so and there is still the final, which really has no meaning as both teams already qualified, against Mexico and I see no reason they should not hold another clean sheet and score several more goals.

This all, assuming decent coaching, bodes quite poorly for any team wanting to knock the senior US team off the top of the mountain. However I do think Japan has most of the right tools in place to give it a good try assuming that stupid things like playing Endo as a defender is abandoned and the players are allowed to play their best.

Japan's youth is also very deep and they could well flourish in the near future. Japan also has the real advantage of playing in a much more competitive confederation that the CONCACRAP we (The US) plays in. Right now the most competitive matches we get within our confederation is the inte-squad practice matches we play. I am in awe of the US women remaining competitive with such a lack of competition in most matches.

That is why friendlies and friendly tournaments like the SBC are so valuable to the US.

The match yesterday was the first time I felt that the Japanese ladies were a poor team to watch. One great goal does not make a team good for entertainment. Yesterday's match was not good soccer by Japan and very painful to watch.

 

Bliss...Covid virus.....been following the emergency lockdown news for Lombardy....
Am sure all here will wish you and yours good luck
This is only football.
See you later

 

Any link to a live stream of JP_UK is appreciated.

 

ref Koroleva again

did Miyake and Doko ever played with each other at CB?

 

I think 1st half will be broadcasted by BBC2 and 2nd half by BBC4, this link could work https://www.filmon.com/tv/bbc-two

 

Started on domestic BBC2

 

it's pay per view after 5 minutes

 

https://www.giniko.com/watch.php?id=190

 

BBC Studio....Laura Bassett singing Hina Sugita's praises

 

Sorry about the two false YouTube links earlier....

 

https://www.sportcast.fun/enx/eventinfo/918247_japan_w_england_w/

 

Nakajima's got the armband

 

Pic attached

 

So far Japan looks much better than they did against Spain. Their goalkeeper is "adventurous" however and that may hurt them. She has also made some really good plays so that may balance out as well. It is 0-0 through 18 minutes and it "could" easily be 2-2 but the match play is pretty much dead even.

 

England is stupidly zoning on corners but the Japanese corner kicks are just kicking the ball into the middle of the zone so they do not take advantage of England's stupidity. Japan has delivered some of the poorest corners I have ever seen from a Japanese team. But at least they are winning some corners.