Anyone who watched the game will know that there wasn't just one problem. Travelling to a midweek international and playing without hardly training with the team is maybe one, considering Kagawa and Nagatomo arrived only on Tuesday. Exhaustion due to jetlag may be another one as for this (midweek) FIFA matchday. Also, there are players who are still in pre-season, which means they are not match-fit. Another bunch of players are currently fringe players at their clubs (and are out of shape & it showed). In-game: We had six attempts at their goal. In 90 minutes. At home. Think about it. We had the majority of possession and had just 1 shot/15 minutes. Kazama senior pointed it out: the Uzbeks did their homework and cancelled out Endo, which meant that our CBs Konno and Yoshida made more build-up play from behind (=long-ball and no accuracy, less chances). So there's another problem that Zac doesn't have a gameplan if things don't quite work out with Endo. I agree with up there that this is one of the bigger issues, at the same time (I honestly don't like it but) I wonder if that could be solved with the return of Honda who can build up play from a deep-lying position too. For me a major issue is psychological though. Even if I like reading that silly stuff, some players are thinking of themselves too much as a media personality, there's too much TV appearances, book publishing, blogging that one gets the impression some players are forgetting what their real profession is. It showed on the pitch that there was nobody who's willing to take the unpopular role, plays ugly effective football, gets cautioned (btw for me this would be the part where Hosogai would come in as his aggressivity is immense). The simple things to win games. I don't think there should be a big shake-up but it's certainly the right time for Zac to make the one big change to show that things just can't go on like that.
That's exactly what I think, although they deserve their fame/time in the spotlight after winning the Asian Cup etc, some of those guys are getting kind of carried away. I'm mainly thinking of Uchida, Yoshida, Okazaki and to lesser extent Makino, Yasuda, Kashiwagi (Even though they didn't play).
I'd take Okazaki out of these media darlings. He knows where he comes from and was the best player for us imo. But Yoshida and Uchida show the greatest gap between extensive media presence and quality of play in the NT, yesterday followed by Hasebe. Also, Makino is on the verge of becoming a sad clown.
My problem with the 'jetlag' argument is that our opponents usually also have to travel long distances to play, and I've also seen their fans use the same excuse when they lose to Japan. To me Okazaki is a hard-working, humble kind of guy, unlike those other players.
So the others are not hard-working and arrogant just because they blog or whatever ? This is caricatured.
The others aren't married yet. I think that tells everything about their appearances in media as they have more time than others (like Okazaki). Oh, how many of NT players don't have an official blog? I'd say that most of them has one.
They're all professionals and they've all achieved something. That's why they're there. I don't actually know them and you don't know them either. Nevertheless, we're both entitled to our own opinions about them simply because of their media presence, their statements, interviews, etc. And many of them do put themselves out to fit a typical role model. I don't think I've slandered anyone. To me, an attribute such as humility is an actual rare quality. I'll take back the 'hard-working' adjective, which seems to have gotten lost in translation. Okay, fine. Everyone in Japan works hard. That's probably what you wanted to hear. In Latin American football culture, very few players would be called "hard workers" by the fans. It's kind of an exceptional thing.
yeah ! exactly. I don't want to hear anything, just not basic critics based on frivolous facts. Just because they blog or appear on TV doesn't mean they don't work hard or are not humble.
No, but they become subject to questioning their commitment. That's why we hardly never see football players on TV shows here, which are not related to football or getting in trouble when they do too much talking on their blogs or twitter accounts.
agree on that, not on the hard working and humble stuff. Yoshida seems pretty commited to saving VVV and Uchida is just suffering from the lack of playing time. When they dismantled South Korea, nobody questioned their mentalities and they were as much on TV, twitter and blogs as today.
I know where you're coming from but I don't buy the argument. Different people have different ideas about what they do in their free time. Like you said, we can see people like Uchida on tv so it obscures our views. Is Uchida appearing on tv in his free time any different from someone who plays video games in their free time? We know what Uchida is doing, but we don't know what others are doing in their free time.
Of course they can do what they want as long as their condition doesn't suffer (although I am sure that some coaches wouldn't allow that much public off-the-pitch-activity if it was in the same country and language as their club). But they have to be aware that they do put themselves into the situation where they easily could be accused of not being focused. Thus, they are knowingly making hurdles higher for themselves, which kinda puts them under more pressure than the player who hasn't got that media presence (regardless of him not having the looks or him just not liking it) which imo is not 100% professional. And yes, some players are seeking the spotlights more than others who might rather keep a low profile. Looking back it's no surprise that Makino signed for the entertainment agency Horipro last spring which *conspiracy tone on* could have been a decisive in him returning to Japan rather than joining a non-glamorous 2nd division club *conspiracy tone off*. But in some cases I see that the media side is looking to pull the player into the spotlights because of their potential with fans and I think Uchida and Hasebe are both perfect examples. I can't be sure that their performances are suffering of course, and as I said above, I enjoy watching some of the shows, but I am sure that media presence doesn't help to make them better players.
I wouldn't say those other guys aren't hard working like Yoshida and Uchida...but guys that are blogging, using twitter, and appear a lot on TV can be perceived as not caring as much as others who just go out and play soccer. Staying with Yoshida and Uchida, they seem like privledged players who may not be the best players at their positions and are being played more on their potential than actual skill level and possibly even good looks/popularity. I too like Okazaki, if you watch him at Stuttgart he plays a complete game. He does what needs to be done for the team playing almost as a box to box player defending just as much as he attacks never taking plays off. He really wants to succeed in Europe and has been one of the best stories IMO earning a spot in Germany and now finally finding his scoring touch. He's always been a great scorer for the National team as a forward, but with Stuttgart he's played on the wings which has made him a more well rounded player and also I'm sure a much more mentally tough player having to learn a new position. I think there is a difference in players though like Okazaki, Nagatomo, and Kagawa and maybe a few others that can't be measured compared to guys like Uchida and Yoshida. The first group of guys seem to play with a fire and passion for the game. While those two are...less fiery? For lack of a better word. But thats more the nature of the player, not anything to do with how they spend there free time. Who knows, maybe if they did concentrate more on their games though instead of their popularity and celebrity status they could be that much better of a player...but its all speculation.