Well, at least this major spanking happened before Olympics, so we have about a month to understand what happened, recover, and try to fight back hard in London. For sure going into Olympics thinking that USA was quite easily manageable could have been a problem, but maybe we didn't need a so severe lesson to get back on earth... I missed the key 20 first minutes of first half, so I can't give grades now (I need to watch at least some highlights to do that) but I anticipate that I'll give very few positive grades: I guess we lost the match much more than USA won it, and I said it all... Our players were, at best, confused (maybe by US jerseys? I was confused too at the beginning: I mean, USA in blue and Japan in white? ). I just hope that Utsugi isn't the umpteenth serious injury. Also, had Sawa a little limp at the right leg after the match (the leg she had a bandage on in the last training)? That would explain her bad condition today, but it would also be worrying...
Well well well, where would you start? Despite the fact that there are hardly any positives to take from this match, I'm not that worried. As Sasaki said it was down to the difference of condition level between two teams. The USA have been in Sweden almost two weeks and Japan arrived 3 days ago after a few days of training. It was obvious to anybody that the USA players looked much sharper. Japan was like the Brazil team in the Kirin Cup. Don't underestimate the ridiculous schedule of this 20 hour travel and two days to prepare (you are just coming out of the jet lag)... There were countless of easy mistakes you don't normally see from Nadeshiko (admittedly it was to do with the pressure from the USA players as well). The sad thing was that they couldn't really test players. You can not really judge players from this match. I know the fingers will be pointed to the two centre backs but what are they supposed to do against Morgan and Wambach with so little protection and time and time again midfield players give the ball away right in front of them. It's tough enough to contain those two with the midfield doing their jobs. Also the second half was chaos for Nadeshiko with the formations/players keep changing. I think it's time for Sasaki to end the selection process. I'm pretty confident Nadeshiko will be fine by the Olympics but the only thing that was unnecessary was giving the USA players confidence. And they will be as rough as today if we meet them in the Olymipics to stop Nadeshiko to play their football.
I want to see Kawashima play as everybody goes on about her. I've only seen her play on highlights, which make anybody look good anyway. It doesn't seem like she was even on the bench though: http://www.jfa.or.jp/national_team/topics/2012/302.html I believe they've got 22 players at the moment in the camp but listed only 21 players (the number of players for U20 WWC) for that game. Does that mean she's a back up player? I believe she hasn't played for a while as she doesn't belong to any team...
Maruyama gave herself a score for you on her twitter. "My knee is ok. If I have to find something positive today, probably that would be it. For my performance, lower than zero." Don't be too harsh on yourself, Karina. You didn't even see the ball...
Not having seen the game yet and not knowing all the details it seems there were weaknesses in the MF and the DF... Too much birthday cake for the Shark? It was said before the mid field defense was an issue but you could hope for some help from the sites, no? Anyway...looking forward to see the highlights...somewhere....
Yes, I would have like to see her on the pitch, instead of Maruyama for instance. But I am quite sure Sasaki will play her in the next match. We don't have to expect miracles from her, though, I guess: in the end it's just a good young player who impressed a major club, but she hardly has any international experience at all, and she still have to demonstrate everything. I wish it was as you say, but in fact, at just a month from Olympics, I find the condition of some key players a little worrying: I mean, ok, now we know how Brazil felt in april, when playing a difficult away from home match after an intercontinental flight, but they still had 3 months to put some order in that, while this slap on the face for us can hurt a little more... I hope the girls are positively and not negatively shocked by this punch. I mean: time to stop talking about gold medal all day, lower one's head and work, work, work, 'cause no-one came in London to gift medals to us... In fact the worst outcome from this match could be losing Utsugi, who, by the way, is a player I love, one of my favourites... I so hope her injury is not so serious. I don't think it's ACL, or she would have screamed/cried way more than this: judging by what we watched on the screen, the sorrow seemed quite bearable, although sharp... I hope that she was stretchered just for a caution... I don't use to give less than zero anyway... But, although it's not her blame only, I agree that Ms. Maruyama's performance wasn't positive at all today... I would save just Nagasato (who was tired in the end, though, and should have been subbed at mid-second-half) and very few others...
I don't think it's much to do with organization but I think it's down to money. I don't think JFA are prepared to spend money on the preparation for these friendlies like the USWNT do. Same for the Algarve Cup, they arrived a few days before and they struggled in first couple of matches against fairly ordinary opponents where as the USA were in Portugal more than a week before. So it's not really surprise. They do this all the time and they just get on with it even though it's not ideal. I think USWNT are the exception. They almost operate like a club team touring around the world. I do, however, think the women's game should move away from the environment where playing every other day is norm (again this comes down to the money in the women's game). I think women's game has improved vastly last 5 years and physically too demanding and it's insane that this still goes on even though it's within FIFA's regulation (just). Playing against the USA and Sweden in 3 days... Well, at least they will be well prepared for the Olymipics - they won't just fly in a few days before the opening match.
I think you have a point. I was watching the US Open Golf yesterday and the TV has vague corporate ads for the "US Olympics Team" - with no reference to one sport or another. Whatever about the WPS league, with the long camp in Portugal and Sweden it is clear that the WNT has a very nice expenses account. Nevertheless, there seemed to be some glaring DF weaknesses in those highlights.
International Friendly: JPN x USA, 2012-06-18 Commentary: Japanese File Format: AVI Resolution: 640 x 360 Total Size: 1.1 Gb 1st half: http://hotfile.com/dl/160285106/32af4be/035229804a.avi.html http://rapidgator.net/file/19017898/035229804b.avi.html 2nd half: http://bitshare.com/files/m49881n0/045003302a.avi.html http://hotfile.com/dl/160300949/a9a91c4/045003302b.avi.html
I think that she was not on match report but I can see her with N°16 next to little Yu. I think she has some kind of skills , she reminds me Iniesta in her physical weekness and her technical ability. Also I think that Ayu Nakada is not so good, maybe the fact that she is left foot profile, that is rare in this team, makes her high status but in the game she is not essential
One of the good things of this team is that most of the players are proficient with both legs so it is not so needed a left-handed player. I've seen better performances from Nakada on the right side .
Of course most of them play her two feet, but need of a dedicated profile is vital. I reminds Nakada at U17 WC and she was not too good, then in one game she was replaced by Yokoyama before half time. I really think that media talk a lot about her, not only for her talent but mostly for her prettiness. I don't want to shock Nakada's fans but she has never subjugated me by her way of play.
You won't shock me... I just watched it the full u-20 game (am thinking NOT to watch the 1 - 4 hammering - or was it a good game?) and I was more shocked by her play. But a few others were poor too, I thought Michigami was just as bad, as a target player and when she had to pass - almost a liability. Somehow she was left on the field for 90 minutes, while Mina Tanaka - who was quite good, was substituted out. Kinoshita saved off the line, but she was beaten flat-footed at least 3 times in one-on-ones, but perhaps she needs the interntaional experience (dont remember her from the u-17 heroines). On the other hand, Yokayama, Y. Tanaka, Naomoto were excellent; not yet perfect, and not incisive as hirohiro said, a few thinsg to work on. Muramatsu quite good in DF, and yes Wada good too, coming forward into space. True the goal was possibly off-side, but they deserved it. One other things - both GKs were very, very good.
Wow, she is a challenged person. Most women love their Dads no matter what! And I expected that in Germany too, a difficult country. But dont you mean that Yuki not Asano was superior? I doubt its about family. I was fascinated to see Yuki running on empty streets before dawn. I feel she has to fight her own negative emotions and has built herself into a better player, inch by inch by inch (ok, cm by cm). And whike Asano is more care-free, this is probably her only chance at the Olympics, and right now its a very small chance.
Anyone who watched it, care to give marks out of 10? Kaihori /10 Kinga /10 Yano /10 Kumagai /10 Utsugi /10 Shark /10 Ohno /10 Sawa /10 Sakaguchi /10 Miyama /10 Nagasato /10 Kawasumi /10 Ando /10 Tanaka /10 Maruyama /10 others? /10 Sasaki /10 mumf /10
First, her brother started soccer, two sisters joined, then their father became a soccer coach despite of without experience. He was very strict, often irrationally. So she feels she was forced to play soccer and be a good player. Asano gave her some pressure only with her presence because she was able to play the ball without thinking. Her father now seems to be a good father, and ironically it irritates her a lot. I don't like individual's ratings without thinking of the game's character, and of course since I tend to watch exclusively only several players, I have no right to rate them all. So, I give you just some impressions. Overall, it's hard to pick out good players in this kind of match, because someone's mistakes can eradicate others' good plays, and most players made mistakes. Where on earth was Oh-No-Messi? Why is she so silent in the NT? How can we block Alex Morgan's speed? (In fact, because I'm a betrayer on this subject as you may know, secretly pleased with her goals.) It was a bad game and most Japanese viewers might've been furious, but it was good in a sense. At least Japan doesn't need to be afraid of the US's new tactics at the Olympics. They will do the same against Japan, and if we can get it through about the first 20 minutes we can dominate the rest of the game.
Overall impression after the first half: Many problems on the right. Most US attacks develop from here and slipped through the MF and DF on the right. When the game was build up on the right, I noticed a tendency to loose the ball before leaving the japanese half. The combination Wambach/Morgan outplayed the right almost in every attempt and thanks to Kaihori, this didn't end worse. Morgan is so darn fast.... The left DF and MF was a lot more accurate and successfull in blocking attempts and building up the game. Most attempts on the US goal came from the right and got lost in a well positioned US DF. They figured out the pattern rather quickly. Game build-up from the left usually got further and seemed more of a thread. But did not happen often enough. Accuracy: Not well. Lot's of missed (receivers) or imprecise (deliverer) passes. Sidenote: Hope Solo looks more cat-like than ever....
Agree, now i'll watch the first 20 minutes that I had missed, to understand better what happened exactly. I don't exclude going on re-watching the full game... Heartbreaking, but my need to understand is stronger than grief. (don't know why, it suddenly comes to my mind old Sade's song "Love is stronger than pride". Nevermind ) ...And, after watching, I've got all the intentions to proceed to rating: I won't back down, as painful as it will be this time... Well, sorry but you'll have to expect some quite harsh mark...
Not a Nakada's fan honestly, but I don't think she played as bad as everyone seems to think... I quite liked her work on the left in the first half: maybe more quantity than quality, but she was there... And she ran and crossed when needed... And I remeber other players making mistakes in that zone of the field more than her (for instance I remember [otherwise very good] Haruka Hamada wasting a Nakada's feed beacuse she failed to control near the side-line). I don't agree about Kinoshita either: she was maybe beaten sometimes, but she made at least other 3-4 quality defensive actions apart form the save off the line. I watched and rewatched the goal action, trying to stop in the exact moment of Nishikawa's shoot (not easy), and I guess Yoko Tanaka was (although barely) on-side: if I remember correctly, with the current rules is enough that the player is not completely beyond the opponent DF to be considered on-side (i.e. just a partial overlapping of the body is enough to be considered on-side, even if most of the FW's body is beyond the line). If I get the rule right (I hope some rule-guru can confirm), I guess Yoko Tanaka was barely kept on-side.
Ayu has apparently a disadvantage. She is cute, but her play style is completely contrary to what anyone expects. She is not such a technically gifted player, but a rather physically strong robust dribbler, though of course not enough yet. For your information: According to the comentator Noda, also her and Muramatsu's coach, while Muramatsu is good at dealing with speedy players, which maybe means she is good at covering, Kinoshita is good at delivering passes forward.
For sure I won't question Noda's authority about that, but I swear that I saw Kinoshita retrieve some balls and make some good defense in this match...