Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] you don't think the fact they subbed half their team at half-time on a wet pitch contributed to their improved pressure after the break. I don't really think England's quality of play improved that much, more their tempo was exactly the same as the first half on a wet day which is not really possible to do unless you do half a dozen subs. I respect Okada for firstly his argument with Capello over Okubo going down, secondly more importantly for only doing 3 subs. It's not sugarcoating anything for the world cup. We could've done 6 subs maybe won 1-0 then people would be scratching their heads wondering what happened when they run out of gas against Netherlands.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] It was a cool, wet day in Austria. Don't know if the game was played at altitude or not. Personally, I don't think the number of substitutes made as big a difference as you may think. The game was not played by England at a frenetic pace. The quality of the substitutions was the difference.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] I was a little depressed by recent results. It just doesn't make sense how Okada can't get results out of the quality he has in my opinion. Watching the england match made me hopeful though. Tulio and Nakazawa were valiant. I feel sorry they gave up the own goals but they'll survive! Endo needs to sit with Nakamura. Honda need free rein!
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] It's a bit harsh on Endo. Last night he performed better than recently match, and Honda is not Zidane. We can't afford to play Endo, Nakamura, Kengo at the same time, but one of them must be on the field. Honda is not ready to play in controller position. In the match vs Inter, CSKA used Honda in CM and honestly I think he cost CSKA the only goal.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] Hell!!! Honda only get 5.0 bcoz the freekick??? This is not easy to take a free kick when raining. (I dun understand the japanese word, but the FK mean FreeKick, right??) He have try to control his ball without the opponent stole it, he almost score a goal which the England keeper have finger touch it without a corner kick. How about the Okubo rocket shooting... 6.0 is overate for him. I must said this match England really not play their best yet, i m just feel something not right in this match.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] it says PK. He did the most attrocious handball and conceded the penalty. Ye I thought he was at least a 5.5 or 6
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] Really hated the own goals, Nakazawa didn't have control but Tulio could have done better. It was like the Japanese players didn't want to shame England. Great penalty save though, hope that was deliberate.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] These ratings never make much sense. Outside of Kawashima's outstanding performance, I felt Nagatomo was the best player. Yet he gets rated same as Abe and Okubo.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] My thoughts so far, as periodically as it comes. And the usual disclaimer - if you're busy, feel free to skip my customary long post as I haven't had the time to read all these pages, so I might not add anything to it. A few more weeks to go and I hope you're all looking forward to it. I'm not entirely sure myself. "Not optimistic, but sheepishly hopeful" is a pretty good description of my complex feelings right now. The real world cup is a tough, cruel competition. Okada Japan's recent turmoil was almost symbolic to the feelings of many of those around him and, I suspect, everybody else in the fanbase. It was almost as though everybody's anxiety, which had been building up for months, gathered to form a large ball of energy and manifested in a physical event. Then came this game against England. I suppose this game was the last 'big' game before we go in (not that I disrespect Ivory Coast, mind). Rightly or wrongly - I tend to lean towards the latter - Okada's idea on developing our football bit by bit, by taking the game apart like a professor, was a slow and tedious process. I suppose it's a good time to review where we are in relation to this game, bearing in mind the game against Holland, who was the last "equivalently" big side (loosely speaking). For the past year, while understanding (or rather being resigned to) Okada's thinking on doing it in bits and parts, my biggest worry was whether or not we'd get anywhere near it in the given time-frame, particularly when it came to binding it all together. In all honesty I don't think we're quite there, but in light of the recent fiasco I just hope the players can bring themselves together for the occasion and accelerate the process in the next few weeks, especially mentally. That will count a lot while they can't do anything about Okada's player selection. In more practical terms, I guess the biggest difference against England was that we scored an early goal and well done to the lads for that. At least there is something fathomable while playing it the doggy-fashion. England played very badly, though, but it is some light at the end of the tunnel, especially considering the other efforts we made to score more goals. Some of them were so close. Combined with the usual high press, they can actually take it somewhere and they should know that now. We were also a bit lucky. More clinical opponents would have given us a much worse outcome and we'd be feeling worse (or less good) right now, so by no means I'm dancing in joy on a green grassy hill with a rainbow in the sky. But then, sometimes destiny has it that we happen to get lucky at a key junction of our lives and I can only hope that this was one such event. Players, too, made a lot of effort. For this part, I'd like to focus on this game against England and see where we can go from here. The doggy grit was rather pleasant to see and I hope they get the knack of it. Kawashima was barking like a seasoned veteran of our national team and everybody appeared to momentarily lose the shyness and respect for older players - this is too often the bottleneck of youth development in our culture. It was one of those "What the hell, we can't play the beautiful passing game any more", and so they decided to compensate the deficit with a proverbial skip of dog poo from abroad. This was long overdue, in my opinion, especially with a buffoon managing our side; if enclosing an opposition player with 2-3 players isn't enough, we need to breathe down his neck and give him a welcome. Better now than never. Abe was surprisingly cohesive with his surrounding players. I never thought I'd say this, but we might want to keep him there. Okubo, too, has been industrious for the last couple of games. When the going gets tough, he might be a better choice than Matsui in the first 70 minutes. Nagatomo was running around annoying England's right wing... which reminds me, England's left wing is nearly non-existent, which was rather nice for us as Honda was playing very centrally, sometimes worryingly so. At times we had an enormous gaping hole on our right, but I guess they were specifically ordered to buffer the central area and shift sideways as necessary. Risky, but fair enough given where we stand. There probably isn't a better option in this world cup; if we go down to a better opposition, then we go down anyhow. For me, in the midfield Hasebe holds the key all the while Endo seems blow par and Naka is going through the usual "my leg hurts" after losing a game, only to reappear later saying "I'm alright now for the next game" - a truly infuriating cycle of absurdity. While I'm on that subject: bringing Kawaguchi is an inspired choice if we end up ditching Naka; Kawaguchi's presence would not allow Naka to drop too low while sulking on the bench and in the dressing room. Just a cultural thing, but important. Push comes to shove, Okada is a 'tanuki'. Sadly, there is a bit of an external force to supress that side of him, but you never know with these things. At least with the media, this man has a major complex and is a windup merchant, except he doesn't want to give it away. These days I'm beginning to think he's doing it to annoy JFA as much as the media. I don't know what he does at home really. Perhaps he has a large DVD collection of him talking to the media and enjoys the reaction on a repeated playback with a can of beer. I'm hoping that side of him comes forth in wielding the axe for the real thing. So... you never know: a large tanuki might crawl out of the ashes like a rising phoenix... or is that a wishful thinking. Anyway, back on topic. Up front, the dog grit made Okazaki outmuscle Ferdinand and Terry. Very funny. I had to rub my eyes, blink a few times and check my sanity. I'd love to see more of Morimoto as the lone striker, but it's a bit too late to build a team around him. Still, Okazaki isn't a bad choice if he keeps that up. As for what needs to improve. Passing is rather nervy, which is understandable given recent events, but sometimes it gets annoying how a string of passes are made too short or behind a player and ends up becoming fifty-fifty, or overshoots the runner and the ball rolls out the other end. Such a waste when we know it's something we can do very well. This is one aspect of on-form Naka (and Endo, I should add) that I miss; he could settle down the ball and bring out-of-phase players in phase. Endo and K.Nakamura would then amplify it, making a synchronized passing silky smooth. As much as I admire Hasebe, he isn't the same sort of player. All that said, physically incapable Naka is a waste of one place in the squad. I'm not expecting Naka to recover during the course of this world cup; no amount of painkiller would help him now, save a lethal dose of morphine from an army medic. Another aspect of our game which we're losing (and needs improving) is side switching. Far too often the ball gets boxed in to one side and somebody needs to make a clinical switch to the other side. Put the two problems from the above together, we end up with another issue which is our players cluttering into each other or all bunched up in 1 place. It's good to be compact, but if a player can't effectively shield the ball physically (which we can't), there has to be a mechanism to send the ball out to create more breathing space. Again, this is becoming a chronic issue in losing possession cheaply. It doesn't help either that our back line now look rather scared to make a quick pass as they've become too nervy to make a confident, snappy pass to a teammate's feet; they almost take a few extra measured steps to prime a pass, which is dangerous when they get closed down quickly. Then they rush a pass into the midfield, and lead to another panic in the midfield. All of this is adding up to form a monolithic problem. It's all down to confidence, as they have the technical ability to break this cycle. So where they've gained in off-the-ball pressing and doggy style, they've lost the on-the-ball confidence. No wonder we can't do the silky-smooth pass thingie up to the opposition's box. Bizarre, but this can be fixed rather easily so I hope they will. To sum up, I'd like to see combined (1) what we used to do in possession + (2) keep pressing as usual + (3) yesterday's doggy style + (4) keep up the goal attempts. Realistically, I don't expect any more than that from Okada and we are almost there. Provided that goals come one way or another during the process, it can work against non-top sides. It's important, though, that we approach Cameroon as if they're Holland or England, and failing that, do the same to Denmark. It may come too late, when all is said and done. But for now, my feeling is that I can only support them and wish them the best of luck. I'm afraid the players will have to take the initiative and improvise quite a lot as they go along, but whatever the outcome, I hope they will do so with confidence. They should be able to because the technical ability is there - It has always been there. They just need to bring it back. Sorry this post lost the structure completely after a few paragraphs, but I didn't have much time.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] HIGHLIGHTS 1st half : [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO_lMV_f-_0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO_lMV_f-_0[/ame] 2nd Half : [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmDiLTsSss"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmDiLTsSss[/ame] People probably know this but you can download the mp4's of youtube videos at http://keepvid.com/ which is a good idea before NHK demand the videos get taken down. http://www.the-rising-sun-news.com/news/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2373 Interesting read, Matsu was less than happy.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] Opps.. my mobile screen too small, it look like F, i think next time better dun put Honda in wall, his reaction are too good... and i think everyone will have the same reaction when ur hand already ready defense ur head. Off topic, Korea lose 1-0 to Belarus... this is funny.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] I did not watch the game. But from what i've hard from those who saw it they said Nakazawa looked good again. That is damn important. What did you guys think? Also damn impressive too see Kawashima play they way he did. I also wonder if Abe played def mid?
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] Nakazawa was very good, I think he just he's adjusted to the higher level once again. He was pretty much flawless all game, Tulio was even better. Bigger shock to see Okubo played pretty well again. Morimoto REALLY deserves a start, even if it means dropping Okazaki. Abe played in behind Endo and Hasebe and the 3 of them rotated kinda like Barca's midfield. Abe was good and was always there in defence.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] Good to hear. I think when Tulio and Nakazawa play their best game they are a fantastic CB couple. Also good to hear Okubo and Abe play good. I have feeling Morimoto will start against Ivory Coast.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] He still wasn't good for me. The own goal wasn't his fault but he made 2 big mistakes that should have resulted in goals. Other than that, he was fine but those mistakes will send us packing in the World Cup.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] According to Okada, Japan were not in good enough condition yet. I'd really lke to know when they plan to get in shape. Though England subbed a lot of players so it makes sense they'd have more energy. I don't mind Okada trying to simulate a competitive match by only using the 2-3 substitutions now, but he should have tried more players when he had the chance. And I'm not talking about big oafs like Takagi. This might actually have been worse than Japan winning, because now they have the overconfidence that they can compete with the big boys, but they still lost... Not to mention, England was trying players that will not even be in the final squad, let alone the starting 11.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] I don't know if Nakazawa will cost Japan, but you know someone will screw up. Like Koji Nakata's friendly pass to Turkey that led to their only goal, the impossible miss by Yanagisawa, Kawaguchi flapping at Australia's throw-in and then failing to intercept the easiest of crosses against Brazil. I think Jamaica's first goal in 1998 came after a foul throw-in by Soma. At least it looked that way when I turned on the replay the other day on SkyPerfect. Can someone back me up on this? Anyway, I know it was Soma that was out of position for Jamaica's second goal. Anyway, what I mean is, players are going to screw up. I know Japan practices to avoid mistakes, but that never works out. We just have to see whether they can compensate for the mistakes this time...
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] We're talking about football, mistakes are a part of the game, no mistakes = no goals since goals (ALL of them) are much or less a result of mistakes. What concerns me is the lack of efficiency in front of the goal. Okazaki should have scored twice against England, particularly the one where he was alone vs the keeper. If he had seized his chances, he would have compensated the mistakes of the defensive players (own goals). It's probably due to a lack of experience, but he sadly tends to lose confidence against world class opponents, he got several occasions (which is great, considering the value of the opponent) but he wasted them, if he was playing against average side (less pressure) he would have scored those with ease as he did in this video, you can sense his confidence, he was almost certain to score, he didn't even bothered to block the ball or analyze the situation before shooting [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLQZeE1007Q"]YouTube- Japan vs Finland (International Friendly )[/ame] His anticipation, reading of the game, positional sense are still great but he is significantly slower to react than the past. Okada and Yuji's teammates should take this matter into account. On "pure reflex" situations, he is likely to let the team down and he probably won't respond in time. He was just standing completely caught by surprise and unable to do anything when an English player sent a vicious pass inside the box just few centimeters away from him. He should start but someone has to be ready to eventually cover a potential mistake from him in addition to his own defensive duties. (Tulio, Abe, Nagatomo...).
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] Re: Nakazawa in yesterday's match. There was one scene in the first half where Glen Johnson kicked the ball into our penalty area (where Bent was heading), and Nakazawa headed up above him, which led to a chance for Bent. 2 scenes in the 2nd half: In one he was standing right in front of Kawashima, Gerrard hits a grounder, and Nakazawa tries to reach it - very dangerous because he might have deflected it. The other scene was him sliding for the ball but not getting it (against SWR, I think?). This in the end led to the FK/PK, but it was preceded by Hasebe's rather shocking error in midfield. With the own goals, I believe both derived from mistakes from other parts of the team. Own goal by Tulio: Matsui just replaced Okubo, he, Nagatomo and Abe are chasing the ball and are left stranded by Lennon? who plays it to Joe Cole. Cole was totally free and he had all the time in the world to make sure that his cross would end up dangerous. Own goal by Nakazawa: Konno just too far from Ashley Cole who is able to cross into the vital area. If Nakazawa wouldn't have touched it, Rooney would have. I believe too Nakazawa has become slower in positioning, and sometimes nervy. Any clinical finishing by Bent and Gerrard as of yesterday and he would have been blamed. On the other hand, he was the one who headed out the ball after Kawashima parried the PK. And also: he has the very ungrateful duty to cover Tulio's runs making him always the last man when they get caught out by counter attacks. I am not sure also if Tulio who was reportedly injured until a few days ago, was rather slow running back yesterday. I had the impression that Konno worked better yesterday than what I saw from the Korea-match, but there were some scenes where Nakazawa had to cover him also, thus making him defend on the right side, too? I am not sure if I recall that one correctly though.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] I did not watch the game at all, but judging by a couple of the posts we did not play that bad. The worst part is that I lost money again I should stop betting on Japan....
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] Hardly. Just glanced off the outside of the corner of the goal post. Thing with this, is that England played badly, and ended up winning. Whilst the Japanese scored all the goals, England had plenty of other chances. For example, Rooney's effort (which was fantastically stopped, by the way!) You have to make your own luck. During the first half, England where inept. And Japan deserved to be in front. However, during the second half, with Gerrard and Cole on, England looked far more threatening, and Japan had to pack the box in order to limit England to long range efforts. Had this been at the WC, it is likely England would have been taking this far more seriously. As it was, they did just stroll around at the start almost expecting to win because the opposition was Japan! Allowed England to play its EPL style of game? That suggests that somehow, the ref should not have. That somehow, in international football, the EPL style is either unethical, or illegal? Which it is neither. It is one style of play out of many. One style that does shake up a lot of opponents, but can result in a lot of injuries to Englands own players as well... The rough play was within the rules of the game. And the Japanese where not angels either. I cant remember who, but a Japanese lad went in on Walcotts ankle in a late challenge. Yes, England played hard, but that is how they usually play. Nothing special. All other teams will scout England and spot this! Its not as though teams go into playing England and are surprised by this! Japan also had its own lucky calls. England had a couple of fantastic chances incorrectly flagged for offside. Overall, this game did not surprise me. Given Englands track record in friendlies, and Japans woeful run recently, one scenario was a perfect storm of outcomes ending in a Japanese win.
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] wait wait wait you bet money? on Japan winning? ............................................ sigh
Re: (05.30.10) Friendly: England vs. Japan [R] I also disagree with this judgement that the Referee was allowing EPL rules. Whatever EPL rules mean. It seems to me that people forget that football is a contact sport, with risks and injuries. Take that physical aspect away and it is nothing. If you are suggesting that England's opposition players were not coping with the physicality, then it is their own fault, or the fault of the football culture in which they play. Tackles are just as much a part of the game as passing. Coincidentally, I think that Japan held their own very well in that respect.