Japan's October Vacation: vs Tunisia (10/8), vs Romania (10/11)

So two weeks to go before the big road trip for Japan NT.

- Tsuneyoshi Miyamoto will miss the trip after falling into the shower door after the draw vs Kobe in which Gamba blew a 2-0 lead in the last 20 minutes.

- Zico will call up all 11 former and current national teamers in Europe. Includes regulars Nakata, Nakamura, Ono, Inamoto, Yanagisawa, Takahara and Suzuki, as well as Kawaguchi, Hiroyama, Fujita and Toda, the last 3 receiving their first call ups since Zico took over.

- Zico will not call up players from Urawa, Shimizu, Iwata and Kashima because of conflict with the Nabisco CUp semifinals. This includes Tsuboi and Yamada (Urawa), Alex, Ichikawa and Morioka (Shimizu), Hattori and Fukunishi (Iwata), and Ogasawara, Narahashi, Akita, Motoyama, Sogahata and the injured Koji Nakata (Kashima).

- With Miyamoto's injury and the absence of Alex, Tsuboi and Yamada, Zico will field an entirely new backline from the past 4 games. Let's hope he uses this opportunity to try some new players like Araiba..

 

Miyamoto will be a good coach one day. I don't think he's international calibre defender though.

So how do you think they'll lineup?
My uneducated guess:
---------------Narazaki
?----Nakazawa?-----Matsuda?-----Araiba or Nemoto?
------Ono (Endo)-----Inamoto----
------Nakamura----Nakata-----
-----------Yana-----Taka-----------


I would actually prefer to see the combination of Ono and Nakamura in the attacking midfield that was so effective during Sydney Olympic qualifiers. Then, Nakata can replace Zico on the bench and that should keep the anti-Zico crowd happy

 

If you love Yana, you'll love this site: http://www2.justnet.ne.jp/~klf/
Scroll down a bit and you'll see his legendary "Cyclone Shoot" against Senegal. Enjoy.

Anyway, Zico announced the squad for the trip, and guess what, he was just kidding about leaving out the players in the Nabisco Cup semis. Santos, Tsuboi and Yamada will miss the Tunisia match but they'll dress for the Romania match.

GK: Doi (FC Tokyo), Kawaguchi (Nordsjaelland) Narazaki (Nagoya)
DF: Atsuhiro Miura (Tokyo Verdy) N. Yamada, Tsuboi (Urawa) Matsuda, Nakazawa (Yokohama Marinos), Santos (Shimizu), Tejima (Kyoto), Kaji (FC Tokyo)
MF: Fujita (Utrecht), T. Yamada (Tokyo Verdy), H. Nakata (Parma), Hiroyama (Montpellier), Nakamura (Reggina), Inamoto (Fulham), Ono (Feyenoord), Endo (Gamba Osaka)
FW: Suzuki (Heusden-Zolder), Yanagisawa (Sampdoria), Takahara (Hamburger) Okubo (Cerezo Osaka)

Projected starting lineup vs Tunisia:
------------ Narazaki
Kaji -- Matsuda -- Nakazawa -- Miura
-----------Inamoto -- Ono-------------
-------Nakamura ------- Nakata ------
-------------Yana --- Taka -----------


Good to see Matsuda back in the squad.

 

I agree with you completely, especially about trying Ono and Nakamura together.

The last time they played together as attacking midfielders was in Olympic qualifying right? And yeah the selection of Tsuboi, Yamada and Alex is surprising.

 

Romania named 17 foreign based players to the squad. I like Romanian names.

GK: Lobont, Stelea, Hutan
DF: Contra, Chivu, Miu, Rat
MF: Stoica, Pancu, Codrea, Munteanu, Cernat
FW: Mutu, Ganea, Niculae, Bratu, Mitea

 

In Zico's defense, look at the teams Kawabuchi lost to. Malaysia and Indonesia?

Bad news: Naoki Matsuda withdrew from the squad because of lower back pain and was replaced by Mitsuru Nagata of Kashiwa. I didn't know this but Matsuda suffers from spondylosis, a back condition where there is seperation between the bones in the vertebrae.

 

Another injury in the defense.
Kazuki Tejima (Kyoto) has been dropped and replaced by Teruyuki Moniwa (FC Tokyo) from Japan U-22.

 

I think you have to play for a European club first. Or cut your hair like Okubo.

Speaking of strikers, Takahara is now ruled out of the Tunisia match and questionable for Romania after picking up an eye injury against Bourussia Mšnchengladbach this weekend.

Romania also lost a player, Cosmin Contra of Atletic Madrid.

 

Uh, sure. I'll get Zico on the phone.


New away uniform. The gray front panel wasn't popular in Japan?

 

It's hard to tell, but I think the shirt's supposed to be beige too.


Japanese players leaving for Tunisia. Okubo looks like a yakuza, doesn't he? Put him in a dark suit and next to a pimped out Mercedes, you'd never know he's a soccer player.