Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/news/20070729-00000008-spn-spo.html "６人目までは名前が挙がっていた" Just makes me wonder who they'd have picked if we needed the 7th kicker?
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] those ********ing ***** were playing like shit, dirty, and grassroll. i know they were technically and physically their performance was truetly disgusting. they are no different from bahrain in my opinion. even those saudi and australia didn't play shit like koreans and at least, bahrain's grassrolling is funny sometimes
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Japan should keep Osim, i think he is a great coach. But some players should say good bye to the NT. Btw, god i love Endos penalties
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Yeah of course. I think the whole Osim-out-talk is out of frustration and emotional turmoil after the premature campaign exit. Looking at his influences overall logically it's too soon to call for his head. I myself would like to know how he alters personnel/tactics/training.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Indeed it will be a bit too early to get him out, but he is going to have to do some serious thinking about his team selection and on the field adjustments though. If there isn't much of a change come the 2008 friendlies, I think it will be safe to say Osim shouldn't be the man to lead Japan to 2010.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] He should bring in some new forwards and take back gangster Ono together with Mastui.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Osim has one year left in the contract w/ option to extend till 2010 WC.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] with an sheer exception of his obssession with jef, osim is not the first one to be blamed. the j-league should be blamed for making such a stupid fixture. i don't think our players underestimated the quality of australia, vietnam, and saudi arabia, but they did underestimate the grubiness football of the shittest team like qatar and ******. japan were not playing in europe but in asia. they should never forget about those ********ing grassrolling goalpacking cheating dirty *****.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Incidentally Osim is pointing to a change of faces to add individual strength, without altering the overall style. Which is what I wanted to hear... I like the elegant style in the build up so keep it and build on it.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] After the reign of Zico, I would be amazed to find anyone who doesn't feel refreshed by the way that Osim had structured the new team. For once, the NT seemed to know what they are doing. They have learned how to create space, how to break down defences through short passes, basically how to play football again (unlike the performances that they put up in the last world cup). What I'm disappointed though, is that he wasn't radical enough. Safe selections like Kaji, Sato and Maki is simply frustrating. Sato is profilic at J-league level, but like Oguro, hasn't showed that he has the qualities to succeed at International (not even against Asian opponents) level. Maki is like a poor man's (a really poor man) version of Nakayama, while Kaji is just...um, Kaji. As for his fascination with current and ex-JEF players, it's really telling because it seems that a lot of the potential NT players has a lot of trouble adapting to a more complex formation that requires a lot more creativity off the ball in terms of creating space and covering for their team mates. This is not Osim's problem, but a problem for the youth development and the general conservativeness in terms of coaching in the J-league (in general). What I'm hoping that the next generation of youngsters with great potential - alas they haven't really done a lot to warrant selection - namely the likes of Hirayama, Ito, Ienaga, Mizuno and Mizumoto if he wasn't injured - would step up and take over from the mid-aged battlers who has shown unlikely to improve a lot (namely - Maki and Kaji and oldies like Nakata Koji). One of the bigger problems the NT seem to have is the unwillingness to try and involve youngsters at the top level.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] I don't think Sato is getting the service that he needs to score. If they put a quick ball into the box, Sato is the first to react and gets a shot on goal, but most of the times they will pause, wait for the defenders to get settled, and then put in a ball that Sato has no chance to get to. Not just for Sato though, but overall I think Japan needs to decide what to do with the ball faster when they have a chance. They always seem to go for the perfect play, rather than forcing misses like other teams do (except when its too late).
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] That would be nice, and I certainly hope he keeps to his word. However, the team does need to learn to play a little more quickly as well, it was going back to the "all-stops train service" kind of play that he criticised the team for back when he just took over.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] I see the same old problem: japan CAN NOT change pace during a game. Can not really accelerate when needed, and can not put a game to sleep. They have their spells, they can change pace in the very easy games, but when it comes to a real test, we are often let down by overall unconvincing performances. Overall, this has been a good summer for Japanese soccer, especially for the U20; however, especially considering the great season of Takahara and Nakamura in Europe, I hoped for something more. Ono could have been really useful. Against Man Utd he did VERY well.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] A friend of mine calls Nakazawa "Jomon jidai no ningen." (=man from the [prehistoric] Jomon period). I think it was funny.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] All those probs alongside what hallelujah_united said, I think the bottom line is that it is a work in progress. No need to lose heart. Go back to the full games and watch them again. They are all pretty good overall - they clearly know what they're trying to do in the build up and they actually manage it fairly consistently. They still ooze with lack of completeness especially as regards to the final ball and the end product of the build up, but the basic idea is sound; that is clear as daylight. I don't want them to alter it too much. S.Nakamura was a suspect, I agree. To me he seemed to get a pass then hesitate then play a safety pass ala Zico era. He was perhaps instinctively looking for a Celtic player only to find none. Or just lacking knowledge of this new team. At any rate S.Nakamura can't play as he does for Celtic because the receivers of his passes are completely different kind of players. Him, Kaji and Endo seem to stagger the play too much for my liking, are they trying to be too clever or something. They better learn to knock out the over-cautiousness against better opponents, but Osim would've spotted that anyway. Osim took the "You learn to walk before you run" approach, so I'm quite sure we will see variations. Whether we have the players to score is something else though. In all fairness to Osim I don't know how much of Osim's fault that would be.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Let's not forget what Japan was only 10 years ago... A hopeless bunch of players running up and down, making very sad faces every time they got scored. As a soccer-nation, Japan came a long way in the last decade. In the world there are a few NT team that are still clearly superior, but overall Japan can play a game against most opponents without fear of being trashed. And the youth team seem very promising too...
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Hear hear! Indeed that's the context in which we have to see JNT. Sometimes I get the impression that some people and media disillusion themselves into thinking Japanese footballing culture is a finished product. Dodgy FIFA ranking used pre-Germany put Japan at 16th or thereabouts, which likely contributed to the disillusionment especially for those who can't fully understand the in-game tactics. I think the new ranking system, albeit the usual unreliability, gives a better perspective of Japan's place for lay people. In the last few days JFA clarified that the board was satisfied with the progress and didn't even consider sacking Osim, in spite of unrest from some sections of society. I'm glad to hear that. Once the footballing culture is fully established and matured, then we can start blaming everything on the coach. Till then, I think we have to think about the development of underlying system for nurturing the J league as well as players themselves (youth or not), and what the coach is doing as a whole. Despite the Asian cup exit, so far so good. In my humble opinion.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] LOL I guess he'd fit well in one of those exhibits at the National Science Museum.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] brings edge in the JNT, i think so This is off topic, but that female japanese footballer, the one with the fro , she looks cool also, a bit freaky but, makes the team look tough
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Are you kidding me? He is hell ugly! He looks like a monkey! May be better looking person than Abe Shinzo.
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] You must be a very good looking man to say something like that, who are you? Mr Beckham? mr Depp?
Re: Japan NT @ Asian Cup 2007 [R] Going more off-topic, but I await the day Houshito Mika makes it to the JNT. Now THAT's what I call eye candy.