Match 43: Denmark v Japan :: Post Match Thread [R]

We did not even expect that performance for thru 3 matches. Am so glad.

 

great performance by Japan Team.. all team play solid.. using speed and ball control so efective..

to bad, the Ref give "soft" penalty to Denmark..

cant wait to see Japan vs Paraguay.. would be entertaining game.. Banzai Japan !!

 

Splendid performance by Japan against Denmark, nice goals, and well deserved win. Congratulations.

 

Congratulations to Japan. I'm more inclined to say that you won because we played terribly and not because you were spectacular, but you were still the better team and the 3-1 scoreline was deserved.

I would, however, like to thank the Japanese goalkeeper. He seemed to take pity on Tomasson (who looked pathetic at first, but comical at the end) and gave him a second chance to score after a poorly taken penalty. Tomasson is now tied for the record of most goals scored by a Danish international. Hopefully this means he will retire, either voluntarily or by force.

 

Re: Match 43: Denmark v Japan :: Post Match [R]

The prominence of the Scandinavian teams in world soccer may be coming a thing of the past.

 

Re: Match 43: Denmark v Japan :: Post Match [R]

With good young players like Bendtner, Agger, Kjær, Christian Eriksen, Thomas Enevoldsen and Simon Poulsen who atleast got some experience by participating at this World Cup + some of the more experienced like Kahlenberg and Jakob Poulsen and a few other who will still be playing, then Denmark will be back for the next World Cup...

The Danish U-21 NT is also looking fairly strong at the moment and impressed at the big U-21 tounament in Toulon this year :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Toulon_Tournament

So more new player are on the way... like 'Toulon topscorer' Nicki Bille Nielsen..
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I'm gonna have to say that first of all, Denmark started the better team for about 10 minutes. Then once japan had one chance, japan clicked into gear and stepped up a notch and denmark didn't have the ability to keep up. That's why, not cause denmark played bad necessarily, just once the heat got turned up on them they weren't able to match japan. Afterwards, japan were comfortable and didn't look like in danger of losing from the 10th minute til the end.

Lets put it this way, if that exact same game happened except instead of it being japan it was spain, you'd say you were beaten by a better side, (i mean literally 100% same game, identical passes etc). But cause its japanese blue shirts you figured you guys played rubbish.

Doesn't matter too much cause japan are in the last 16 but i need to clarify, Japan are a better team than Denmark and played a better group stage than denmark and fully deserve on merit to be in the R16 as the 2nd best team in Group E.

I'm saying this so you don't take the wrong messages and excuses from the world cup, i'm sick of euro-teams and euro-team fans coming up with excuses when it concerns a team outside of europe or south america. If you don't believe me compare all 3 games of Denmark and japan. Japan were better against the Dutch and Cameroon and beat denmark. thus Japan > Denmark.

 

Do you even understand the game of soccer? I'm not going to defend the Danish NT, because the performance displayed during all three games in this WC is probably the worst I've ever seen during a major championship, perhaps only rivaled by the Euro 2000 tourney non show-up. For followers of the Danish NT, it is very clear that this was/is a team with too many "over-the-hill" players in key positions. Having said that, and with the acknowledgement that ON THE DAY, Japan was the better side, I still believe that Denmark would beat Japan 8 out 10 times, no matter where the game was played, if all their players were fully fit. How many points do you think Japan would take against a Portugese or Swedish NT in a theoretical qualification round?

More than anything I'm a fan of football, so I always want the best teams to advance, and given the poor performance by Denmark I can honestly say I was happy that they were not rewarded with advancement. On the other hand, to say that Japan was so much better than Denmark is just plain wrong. Did you even watch the other two Japan games? While most of the players on the Japanese team were pretty confident on the ball, there were very little constructive play from the Japanese side in their first two games, once they approached the final third of the field. Their goal against Cameroon was a little by chance/coincidence (ball dropping to the feet of Honda), and they could easily have conceded more goals against Holland. The only chance I recall they created against the Dutch was again from a long ball towards the end of the game.

Despite the horrendous play by Denmark in the first two games, I was quietly confident that they would be able to beat Japan. After all, they couldn't play ANOTHER bad game, could they? Having seen the first two games that Japan played, nothing really stood out for me other than how physically fit they were (and confident on the ball - as I said). I knew that the main threats would be from free kicks (Nakamura and/or Endo), and so should the Danish team have known.

In the game against Denmark it was clear from the very start that Japan would be happy with a 0-0 result, which of course would advance them out of the group stage for the first time (outside of the Asian zone). Even before the first goal, they were taking their sweet time on throw-ins and free kicks. As you said Denmark did start the more aggressive side, and had they scored early on who knows how the game would have turned out, but I digress, because as I said, I love (good) football, and that was NOT on display when it came to the Danish side during this tournament. On that back ground I'm happy and congratulate Japan for their advancement.

I'm not even going to discuss the first goal because that was a clear goalie mistake. There's just no way a Natl. team GK should be beat by a free kick 30+ meters out (and at a bad angle at that). I've seen some reports that Sorensen was to blame for the 2nd goal, and although the wall could possibly have been positioned a little better, that was truly a beautiful goal by Endo. Not many GK's would be able to stop such a perfectly positioned shot. With the second goal the game was essentially over, since Denmark knew they had to score at least three times. That never look like it was going to happen, and I think the players knew that. The third goal was pure quality. As Denmark was pushing for the elusive equalizer, it opened holes in the back chain, which Honda so gracefully exploited. Hats off for that.

In conclusion I would say that Japan "earned" the runner-up spot, as the lesser of three evils (meaning the other two teams played slightly to a lot worse). If anything the Japanese NT looks like a well organized side, extremely well conditioned (as S. Korea are/were), but unless they get a boat load of free kicks within shooting distance of the goal, I don't seem them advancing much further in this tournament.

 

Japan was more impressive than Denmark, both in their head to head match as well as in the other group matches. The results say as much and none of those results in this group went against the run of play.

Japan beat Denmark fair and square, and played a splendid match against them. While it is true that Japan v Cameroon was boring, it was equally true that the better team in that game was Japan which won the match without having to suffer much in terms of chances on its goal. The Cameroon, on the other hand, were far more dangerous against the Danes. And both teams played conservatively against the Dutch, with the Dutch not looking all that spectacular against either Denmark or Japan. Except the result between Denmark and the Netherlands was 2:0, with the Danes hardly doing anything in that game, while the Japanese barely lost 1:0 missing a couple of chances in the process.

Japan will do fine against Paraguay regardless of the final result in that match. I have predicted this match will go down to penalties, but what I am even more comfortable predicting is that Japan will play well enough to keep that game well in contention.

 

Buddy, in 1986, Denmark qualified for the R16. In the qualification for the tournament, Japan lost to S.Korea who in 1986 did sh!t in their group stage.

24 years away, the ability of Japan has surpassed Denmark, S.Korea has also surpassed Denmark. The quality of defense and particularly midfield is now loads better. Reason? The way Japan has critically assessed the JNT over the last 24 years and the practical progress taken.

Frankly the attitude you've just shown here is the reason why Denmark can never reach the next level. Unless Danes more critically assess their team and don't write these results off as "one of those things" and stop acting so damn superior as a UEFA qualified side they will never get back to the ability of their 1992 team.

Cause all I saw from Denmark in the past month was losses to Australia, South Africa, Japan, Holland and they were outplayed by Cameroon and the other 4 teams above, a goal difference of -4. No mistake buddy, there's problems there and its not a fluke over 450 minutes.

 

Ppl seem to forget that Cameroon made the mistake of underestimating Japan in the first match by resting some of their best players and using Eto'o the wrong way... a tactical blunder by their French coach, who probably was thinking that Japan would be easy, so that he would rest some players and make a few experiments. This became fatal, since they then also lost the next match against Denmark... a match I may add, that was far the most entertaining of this group, because both Cameroon and Denmark were going straight for the win...

The main reason why Denmark did not progress from this group, you will find here :

Thomas Sørensen (not match fit for this WC)
Jesper Christiansen (Not playing more than a few games for his club this past season, so not match fit for this WC)

Lars Jacobsen (not match fit for this WC)
Daniel Agger (not really in top shape, but stil doing a fairly good job)
Simon Kjær (injured before the last friendlies in Africa, so not really match fit at the time of this WC)
Simon Poulsen (Match fit and a positive surprise at the WC, except for the owngoal against Holland)

Jesper Grønkjær (experienced, but has been troubled by a knee injury the past few years, not fit to play 90 minutes at any level)
Martin Jørgensen (experienced and match fit, but getting to slow for WC level )
Daniel Jensen (has been long-term injured this past season and was very far from match fit for this WC)
Thomas Kahlenberg (first he was long-term injured for more or less a whole season, then he lost his spot for his club team, so far from match fit for this WC)
Jacob Poulsen (Suffered a long-term injury in the winter break and was far from being match fit for this WC)
Christian Poulsen (should be fit, but quite a disappointment at this WC)
Dennis Rommedahl (Match fit and doing well)

Niklas Bendter (injured a month before the WC and was not able to play in the friendlies, was clearly still troubled by his injury against Holland, besides not being match fit for this WC)
Jon Dal Tomasson (experienced, but not as sharp as he used to be.. on top of this he was injured right before the WC and was not quite match fit)
Søren Larsen (Has been on loan to a lower level German club and not really been playing much at club level , so not match fit for this WC)

As I have also written before, then the poor shape of the Danish players was a big problem, that would make it highly difficult for Denmark to progress or go far..

Denmark manged to play an excellent first 45 minutes aganst Holland, though was in too poor a shape to keep up in the 2nd half... they played a fairly good match against Cameroon, though it still showed, that they lacked some match fit players and speed in midfield and were not pysically on top.. Denmark were also clearly the better team against Japan until the first goal against the run of play... However, then the Danish team was doomed, because they were not in shape to turn the match around... So though Denmark had most possession, it was of course deserved that it was Japan that progressed.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/06/25/japan-3-1-denmark/
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... perhaps I should add, that it is quite shocking that Denmark travel to the WC with this many injured/unfit players... and you could surely put the blame for this on the Danish NT coach... but you also have to understand, that a Danish NT coach would never leave players at home who have helped the team qualify and pick new more match fit players to take their place... that would be quite unthinkable ... From a danish NT coach point of view, then the players who manage qualify are also the only players who fully deserve to be at the WC, no matter if they are not quite match fit when he pick his final WC team... So ther was infact little the NT coach could have done differently.
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I recommend you, instead of bullying fans of an Asia country, should be concerned about if Italy will ever advance to the round 16 of either the 2012 Euro or the 2014 WC. For that matter, can any club except for Intel win even the CL group stage?

 

WTH does that how to do with anything when it comes to evaluating this WC's team?

This has got to be one of the most stupid arguments I've ever been involved in. So following your line of arguments, Japan has been spending the past 24 years criticizing their Natl. Team, which has now led them to surpass Denmark. Are you serious? Meanwhile Denmark won the Euro 92 and the Confederations Cup in 95, they made it to the Quarterfinals in WC98 and R16 in WC02. I know which side I'd pick to root for.

Also, according to a FIFA report Japan has about 5 million registered soccer players, which almost equals the ENTIRE population of Denmark. Statistically one would think that Japan should have a better chance of developing a greater number of good players than Denmark, yet how many Japanese players are playing in the best leagues in the world (of which I reckon the majority are European leagues along with the Argentinian and Brazilian leagues)?

Quite frankly there were only a couple of players I saw in action from the Japanese side that I'd say were or had potential to become great players, Honda, Endo (getting old?) and the Brazilian turned Japanese Full/Centre Back.

It is very evident in now four games that Japan simply cannot "create" a game, so they rely on the old technique of counter attacking. The problem is if they face a team that play that way too, you'll end up with a very uninspiring game, as we saw today.

You're just showing your ignorance for everyone here to see. First off, the friendlies leading up to a major tournament means nothing. They're there mainly for the coach to fine tune or experiment with different lineups and ways to play. Secondly, as has been well documented in other posts, the Danish NT was riddled with players that were either recently injured, or players that were coming back from long term injuries, and therefore were not in their prime condition. You could say that's a bad excuse, but those are the facts. Denmark is not a big enough country (in terms of quality players) to say, well let's leave those players at home and get some "fresh legs" to go instead. Saying that Denmark were outplayed by all the other three teams in the group is plain stupid. I'd say before giving Holland the first goal, it was a pretty even game. Against Cameroon I'm just wondering if you saw a different game than me? That game could easily have ended 5-3 to Denmark, the fact that they won was no fluke. And the Japan game - VOW!!!! As I said in a previous post, that first goal was a GIFT. Without that, I'm quite certain the game would have turned out quite differently. Either way, it makes no difference because none of the teams in the group looked all that great (incl. Holland). Unless Holland really steps up, I don't see how they'll get past Brazil.

Finally, when it comes to self criticism, believe me there's plenty of that going around in Denmark at the moment, from the press, former players as well as the general population. Questions are asked about letting the coach go, and although some veteran players have already announced their retirements, others haven't, most noticeably JD Tomasson, which in many Danish supporter's eyes was the ultimate scape goat with his many blown chances.

 

Yeah, and hopefully we can continue this 4 years later.

 

I was sad to see Japan go earlier this week.

 

And Paraguay was capable of beating them? I don't think you can judge a team based on penalty shootout. It's the game of luck and luck doesn't have anything to do with capability.