Congrats to Japan! Hontouni ometetougozaimasu! I put some money down after the Germany match that Japan will end up with 6 pts. When you guys lost to Costa Rica I thought I had no shot of winning the bet. Thank you for beating Spain The other bet I made was that Japan would exit at QF. I'll be rooting for you guys against Croatia.
Before the game, Doan said "I know the style of their game, and I can't lose twice to the same opponents", referring to our Olympic semi-final loss to Spain (a Spain team which had seven players in common with this WC squad), and then he went and backed up his talk. The players showed mental strength in bouncing back from the Costa Rica mess and playing vs Spain with composure and the belief that they could win. Moriyasu is being hailed as a genius, but let's not get carried away. He had a good, fairly obvious plan vs Germany and Spain which worked both times. He has also made many mistakes so far. And he has the deepest Japan squad ever to work with. The gap in quality between Japan and a Germany or Spain is not as wide as it used to be, which is what makes upsets like these possibilities, and not "miracles".
The good thing is that we have a plan against stronger opponents. The bad thing is that I wouldn't rate Croatia as such. You'll have to play differently. Probably starting Mitoma, Tomiyasu and Endo this time. Benching Kamada and even Yoshida, because their WCs have been a disaster. Gonda H. Sakai - Itakura - Tomiyasu - Nagatomo Morita - Endo - Tanaka Doan - Ueda (yes) - Mitoma Final close: it's amazing how certain elements have been rejected by the manager. Yamane played 60 minutes against Costa Rica and didn't play yesterday even when we had no choice. Hiroki Ito same, to the point of preferring Taniguchi. Shibasaki is one of the only two outfield players to have not featured in the WC (the other is, disappointingly, Machino).
Croatia are no Spain and Germany, so Moriyasu must change his setup. Doan must play from beginning, Tomiyasu too. I understand that against Spain and Germany, he wants to save his best attacking players in second half to turn the tide in like 10 minutes. But against Costa Rica, a team that sits deep, it doesn't work and only when Japan are behind, he starts to make some change. Against Croatia, it better to attack from beginning and field your strongest XI.
Before World Cup, i already predicted Japan would advance past group stage. But beat both Germany and Spain and top the group is something incredible. Credit to Moriyasu. Still, i wish Japan had someone like prime Honda now. It would be fantastic.
Fully agreed. But sadly, I expect Moriyasu to stubbornly stick to his tactics since it has "worked" for him. I hope he proves me wrong this coming Monday.
Likely. But this is a KO game so i think it must fire him up a bit. If he wants to make history here, the best chance is give his all. Maybe, just maybe, Japan can finally reach quarter final.
I actually think Croatia will try to play like Germany/Spain a bit, just not as well. they are old and were vulnerable to the counter in qualifying/nations league so I don't think much needs to be changed about strategy and tactics except play the best players from the start: Mitoma, Doan and Asano. https://saturdays.substack.com/p/the-big-croatia-japan-preview
It's Japan's game to win, they won't have a better chance to reach the quarterfinals than this time around.
I think its pretty obvious Moriyasu has his favourites now. Some we dont see the point with, but. Tomi needs to start against Croatia. Im also curious what Machino could do with 10-15 minutes.
There are idiots on Croatian news sites commenting about Spain losing on purpose, and saying Japan will be easy. I'm pissed off. If Dalić doesn't take Japan seriously, then Moriyasu will teach him and all of Croatia a lesson on not playing tired players, no matter how world class they are. I'm already having semi-bleak visions of a 3-2 win for Japan in extra time. The "semi" part is well...Japanese players being respectful, and maybe hugging their club teammates on the losing side.
Sooo ********ing cool. Japan was totally awesome. The spanish coach told after the game, that Japan was unbeatable yesterday, and that Japan let "collabs" Spain. He also said, that there was no idea to beat Japan and that Japans pressing and play was insane. He told, that yesterday when Japan would need 3 or 4 goals to advance Japan easily would score 3 or 4 cause the Blue Samurai were unstoppable yesterday according to him. Great Compliment. Also soooo happy for South Korea .
Guys it can be Japan vs Korea at the Final8. This is simply unbelievable. Here in Italy rednecks keep going angry to see "weak asians" go ahead, they all say Spain and Portugal lost on purpose to eliminate Germany and Uruguay. Rants. I answer them yesterday but from now on I'll ignore this utterly ignorant people. Testator do the same, it's better for you and for your mental health. I'm in fault but for the first time since 2002 I'm not afraid of the next opponent we will face.
I sort of am...but I'm thinking about the game. It doesn't matter who wins, from my perspective. I want to see ゆうき (bravery) from both teams. Show the world that Spain, France etc. are boring and gutless. Croatian defiant spirit against Japanese fearless persistence! 勇気 !
Spain was closely out of the WC yesterday when Costa Rica take the lead. Spain was playing with full force. Maybe not at the 90th Minute when it was clear that Germany won and Spain doesnt do any damage. No way a Team would lose on purpose. Portugal was shocked after South Korea take the lead. Both wins were totaly deserved.
Absolutely. Spain was sure to be safe only at 85' when Germany scored the 3rd. Portugal field CRISTIANO RONALDO who want to score a lot to surpass Eusebio's record, how in the world can someone be so idiot to think that Portugal lost on purpose? Some people will never give asian teams credits, and this is basically RACISM and everyone must condemn this and not stay silent and pretend that it's not so important. Sorry I don't want to be redundant. Head to Croatia. Now I'm super curious how Moriyasu will manage this one.
You haven't seen the arabs here lmao. They are ten times worst when it comes to racism especially against asian people.
Interesting to note, Croatia have done the same starting XI each of their group matches. They were really quite lucky Lukaku missed 4 sitters or so. I think this second half blitz stuff might work well on them given hopefully they'll be more fatigued than Japan. I think only Yoshida has played every minute of the tournament (and Gonda) for Japan so far. Starting this game needs to be a 4-2-3-1 again. Ao Tanaka is having a belter of a tournament.
Remember that Itakura is out of the game and we don't know about Tomi's form. If I'm not wrong Croatia is the only team who draw 0 - 0 two times and they delivered only against Canada with their main striker, who play in the croatian league, scored just 1. Obviously Perisic - Modric - Brozovic and even Kovacic are the main threats. We managed Spain mf, let's do the same with croatian.
I remember in 2010 when Okada Japan had the same starting XI each match. By the Paraguay game, while they had an alright game they were clearly exhausted and had they won the PK they probably would've been dead on their feet for Spain. Hopefully the fresher legs should prove to be a difference. Especially of our central midfield players. Low key I love how Japan has 5 solid CBs in this squad. Taniguchi did so well vs Spain. Japan needs to use fitness to its advantage as as the game wears on. Its as if the Belgium 2-3 in 2018 was really reflected carefully upon in how this team uses its squad/energy.
I know not everyone will agree with me on this but that 2010 Japan did incredibly well. In my opinion, the best Japan post 2002 to have ever featured at the World Cup.