On Koroki: Not in disagreement but to add a detail. I think Koroki MIGHT do something in the last 20 minutes IF the team is attacking. But I doubt he will be the one who, by himself, carries the team beyond the obstacle. For that, I believe Hisato Sato would me much more appropriated, as he has carried Sanfrecce's attack on his shoulders successfully for a few seasons. I am not saying with Sato we would have won in Holland, all I am asking is for that granite-headed Okada to give him a chance... Also, Makino, please... What would have been there to lose to throw him in when there were 20m left and we were 0-2 down?
I wasn't putting it in as an excuse, but not making one action off ball, is just something you don't do on international level. There are grades of difficulty you can pose on your opponant. When we played England we could easily fool ourselves with a 2-2, but fact was England was far better than us (England is a favourite for the title this time around I can assure you). When people state Japan were on level/better for 60 minutes (and they were) I must bring in this fact. There was another factor than japenese midfiels quality. Nice or not nice, it has to be taken into account if you take assesements from the game. The fact sneijder was acting like an idiot is presicly underscoring my point. Sneijder is our distributor and he could not distribute because nobody did something off ball. Add to that Japanese pressure and you have frustration wich resulted into wrong behaviour.
That Okada is a sissy and don't dare to call up new players is one thing. But as you write he don't even put the offensive players on, he don't dare to gamble a little in a friendly. If he doesn't gamble when will he? It's too late in the WC.
Not only is his goal extremely hopeful, but stupid to begin with. Every team should be playing to win the tournament. Who hopes to finish fourth? By saying top-4, it just makes it sound like Japan really thinks they are top-4 quality, and will be even more embarrassing if they go out without a fight again.
On the paper this sounds good. But as pointed out by Enclosure, Okada played a pressing system which involves every player, also FW Okazaki. Honda, when coming on for Tamada, didn't participate, and that may have been a factor in the team falling apart. With Shunsuke leading the post-match-criticism (he said something like "We can not afford one player not to take defensive duties" and it seems clear enough who is meant), I see this already as a huge problem for the JNT. Some striking similarlities to the problems between Shunsuke and Nakata in 2006 are to be found here... and it could well be Okada's biggest challenge during his remaining reign in terms of who he fields: Is he able to incorporate the player into the team who is delivering most consistently currently on club-level...? This is a question not only of the football philosophy but also of Okada's authority and team hierarchy, so I doubt that Okada will change anything. Will Honda succumb to the needs of Okada's system? I don't know, why should a player change his approach when he is proved right every week at VVV? Well, season is still young, so there will be some players out of form, injured etc. needing to be replaced, but conditional to the system played against Holland is some kind of blueprint I doubt that Honda will ever become automatic choice under Okada. If Honda becomes a regular, then fine, but once things start to deteriorate, this could prove an explosive matter (I mean it negatively). On a positive... yes, I still have some hope... the Holland-match was the first game in which we saw some kind of structure of play which worked for a considerable portion of the 90 minutes. If we don't count in the 'weaker' sides in Asian qualification, I don't really remember seeing that for a long time. Ok, this was a friendly in which we were underestimated, and I tend to think that we can expect more at this stage, including as Matsu says, a game plan for the final quarter, but that just did not materialize. Okada needs to also do a cut and figure out that his tactical substitutions are not working and he needs to try different things. Maybe he is doing only one step at one game but as long as in the subsequent friendlies he is not repeating the errors of the past, I would cautiously start to hope again... It's funny but I could now write again "but..." and go on contradicting myself, continuing in an endless loop. Hope though that I will be released from it when we play Ghana.
No matter how you put it the proclamation of the Top4-target remains a great mystery. I think he said it prior to the final qualifier against OZ, but it has haunted Okada right from the start and is doing it ever since. This comes straight out the realms of Captain Tsubasa...
I thought it was an OK perfomance from Japan. But, as has been noted, it was shockingly obvious that the boys up front were going to fade fast the way they were tearing around the park. Was it simply over-enthusiasm (from the players) or terrible naivety (from Okada)? By all means press, but do you really need to sprint after every backpass to the keeper? It's not a question of fitness - it's just not possible to play like that for 90 minutes. In this system there seems to me no point in having Kengo and Tamada in the same team. And I'd rather have Kengo's vision than Tamada's fleeting goal threat. I'd happily bring Tamada on to do Kengo's job when he inevitably fades in the second half. He'd certainly be able to fulfil the same kind of role. Or even Okubo (if available). That would leave a place in the starting line-up for either Honda or Koroki. (Morimoto is a false Messiah - at least for this campaign - and Okada' unlikely to give anyone else a look-in at this stage.) Personally I'd like to see Honda starting in the pocket behind Okazaki. Koroki's time may well come, but we've already seen glimpses that Honda's left foot can be world class. Will it happen? Unlikely. But a wild card thrown into the pack mightn't be such a bad thing. True enough Honda's not a grafter, but (assuming he's starting up front) I'm of the opinion that there should be a limit to a forward's defensive duties. Okazaki does too much, as far as I'm concerned, often giving away free kicks in dangerous territory with his striker's tackling skills (like in the last Australia game). He nearly gave away a penalty on Saturday in a position where he needn't have been. But that's a whole different topic. Given the alternatives, I think Okada's going to stick with the current approach right through to the World Cup. Will be interesting to see how it goes against Ghana on Wednesday. (Just hope Kengo gets to take it a bit easier, for Frontale's sake.) Oh, one other thing. Tulio may think his sumptuous range of passing deserves a world audience, but at this level he needs to focus on the defending. Just play the simple pass to an Endo or Hasebe who won't give the ball away, you plonker.
For those who were upset by the de Jong/ Sneijder fouls, Bert van Marwijk was very harsh in his critic on the fouls by the two. He said that those fouls could cost them(the Orange team) in SA the match and even the tournement, so he was very displeased with these actions. He apologized to the ref for it. I'm surprised by this sudden burst of analysis and comment on the match.
This whole pan out with Honda is really beginning to worry me It's bad enough worrying about Okada and the next tactics he'll try to pull off, I can really do without worrying about Honda. In a way, though, I guess it's really simple - give him a few chances to blend in and if he doesn't, just wait till the current gen retires. But still...
True. But so does Endo and Kengo Nakamura. Difference is that those two can adjust their game and play with discipline and play for the team when needed.
Woah, Enclosure! I hope you are not serious maybe the next gen has to deal with a Honda-type again. Admittedly, I am pessimistic as well, but I probably read too much into the Honda-bashing-post-match-articles. Honda is a bigmouth but a very straight character, it seems. Sometimes バカ正直, too honest, but he is a self-confident and ambitous lad. This might not go well with the Japanese media but somehow I believe that he is also easy to handle for a coach. On the other hand, I don't have doubts about Shunsuke as a footballer, but after the Holland-match I found myself questioning if he is helping the integration process of 'high profile' players... instead he was making remarks about players not helping the cause. Anyway, in any other NT the team's captain would speak now and state clearly if Honda is welcomed or not.
I am being serious. Also I wasn't really implying that Honda is necessarily the problem, though he certainly isn't helping. The media wise I don't care too much, but what is true is that Nakamura camp drives the current NT. It's been building up since Nakata camp broke up. They are professionals, but there are cultural issues here 部活-fashion. There's a limit to how much Okada can control this, partly because of his lack of personality. Some players have failed not just because of Okada's tactics, but also because of Naka camp. Beyond that, what's going on with Honda is a speculation at this point. A lot of it will likely depend on Naka's acceptance of Honda, though. Honda is making it terribly difficult for himself as well, so that doesn't help. If neither side changes, there is a chance that Honda will not feature very much in the 2010, if at all.
Did we not also get results playing different tactics in the past year? I guess I see this high pressing attack that we saw as an option to use against the power team(s) in our group. It's very probable that we end up with a side like the Dutch or Argentina or Brazil, etc. where I would like to see this strategy used (more effectively employing substitutes). But I don't think we need to use it against every country. There are a lot of countries that are closer to our level of play, and we are likely to face one or two of those as well. Nor is it imaginable that we can keep that kind of sustained pressure up for not just 90m... but 270m over a short period of time. I can't see that as being feasible. Can you imagine using this even against Honduras, Tunisia, Algeria, Ireland, Bosnia, Greece, etc.? We should hope to have at least 1 team in our group where Japan doesn't have to over-achieve to take 3 points. So even if Honda isn't a good option in this specific strategy -- I still think he can be immensely valuable for Japan in the other World Cup games. Horses for courses.
seolseol, it's business as usual, I suppose. We'll likely see more of the reserves. As I've always said, Okada has the habit of doing this bit and bit rather than everything all together, so I suspect the focus of the game will be more on the attacking half of the pitch. The game against Netherlands was more about the middle and the back. That said, expect the same sort of tactics when out of possession. I know enough of you have expressed concerns over this given Okada's tactical ineptitude, and believe me I do sympathize, but we will likely stick to the same line of thinking. I still maintain that some of you are too rattled by the last part of the game to really see through what can be done without too much alteration. If we line up players and make them sprint in a straight line for 90 minutes, of course they won't last. Even my cat knows that, but it doesn't have to be like that if we can score goals during the period of dominance. That's our ultimate problem, no matter how much we try to spin it. There aren't many, if any, tactics or tacticians who can make it work without cracks appearing if we don't use the tactics as "the means" to "the end" - the goals. It's all very well blaming the cracks as they're the most noticeable part, but we can control the cracks so long as the means lead to the end product. Bahrain is a good example, in asian terms. They do a lot of things wrong. Passing, crossing, playmaking etc, but they can get scary when they come galloping into the area on counter, because we know they can score. The means don't need to be perfect, so long as the ends are there. Far too often we have criticized the manager's tactics, looking back to Zico's era for instance, but on reflection, we could've gone quite far if only we put away the chances we created. We must face up to this chronic disease we have. Under Okada it'll never be perfect, but on Saturday I saw what can be achieve along this angle of approach, even with our players. Even with Okada, I should say. When I look back the last decade, the "missed opportunities" were mostly due to the lack of striking, or the balls to strike. As scotch says I hope the subbing is more thoughtful and incoming players will more proactively and smoothly fit into the overall method to help, not hinder, the others. Most of all, I'll be praying that we'll score some goals and then exploit the lead. I'd also like to see more change of pace throughout the game, especially after taking the lead. Gaps appear all over the place when the opposition tries to catch up. If we can combine all that, that may very well be the best we'll ever manage with this bunch of... well, players and the manager. We weren't far off from doing that on Saturday, against a pretty good opponent (I say pretty as they were a bit off). Where that will place us on the map, I don't know. We might be doomed, as Matsu pointed out, or we might do alright. I would like to believe that we'll go quite far so long as goals come, because our midfield can create enough chances. Do we have enough time to complete this Okada's "brick by brick" progression though? That, I'm not sure.