It's the same tactic as it was at the previous World Cup with Moriyasu saving some good players for the second half and it paid off again. I'm not sure it's a smart tactic in the long run though.
Overall it was a very solid game against a top team again. Solid result. Wouldn't change that much for the next game. It was the first game and the players need to come into Rhythm. 7:7 shots said all. Sure Netherlands has 2-3 better chances but Suzuki for me was very solid. Only Maeda out or upfront for Ueda but apart from that I wouldn't change that much. Kubo is not injured is he ?
Guys I'm no that type of enthusiastic supporter but please stop talk about Netherlands as they deserved more. They didn't. They scored with their tallest fan favorite CB exploiting the physical mismatch as like a talentless team as Czechs did against SK. And then they scored again with their shortest newbie winger with 3 defenders in a row slipping the ball. Not exactly a Koeman mastermind tactics, on the contrary they scored Moriyasesque goals. We collected even the 4th injured starter of this WC and played without a proper sub for the rest of the game. I bet that with other 10 minutes we could win the match too.
They weren't as impressive as I think some people expected them to be BUT they definitely could have scored 1-2 more goals without those 2 Suzuki saves.
The match collapsed for the Orange Squad after the 70th minute with Koeman's idiotic subs. Until that moment possesion rate was 70% for the Orange Squad, after the idiot took of Summerville and Malen it collapsed to
To be fair, Japan gained major momentum offensively when Junya Ito was subbed in around the 70th minute for an ineffective Maeda so that also played a role.
Of course, but your coach made a sub to correct a "mistake", our coach took off the pitch the attacking dangers Summerville and Malen for a defensive midfielder and a useless Depay. So basically freeing up your defenders to push up.
Fair enough, I just think a myriad of factors were involved. Daizen Maeda who started in Ito's role offered nothing going forward.
Maeda was very active but totally ineffective. He fights till the end and he is a great pressure player but he is not a good winger. He needs to be a striker or a super sub but no middlefield again for Maeda please.
You can blame the subs but both times Japan started attacking once they were behind. Did Koeman make a sub the first time they took the lead and then Kubo and company started getting involved all of a sudden? No. So you can't completely say his subs were at fault the 2nd time. It is more likely Moriyasu instructed his team to not take too many risks when tied, because 1 point is a very solid result. But it could have gone either way.
All that Japan needed to do was just to apply a bit of pressure and they scored both times they did that.
Safe to say that our boys took a while to shake the nerves off, but then found their gear as the game went on. If Moriyasu can get his guys to adjust a few things like having a tighter defensive coverage and be more incisive on the attack, Japan will get through Tunisia and Sweden.
I think it's just 1 or 2 people talking like that (with one being a Dutch fan). That said, Van Dijk scored but it's not like they were playing van Gaal ball. He just happened to stay up after a set play. Which by the way was a really soft call against Doan in the first place.
It was a typical Moriyasu performance, think of the games against Germany and Spain in 2022. I expect Japan to get through Tunisia and Sweden either way.
We're 7 minutes in the Sweden-Tunisia and the Swedes are already leading and dominating Tunisia. EDIT: 2-0 Isak
Exactly. Some people saw friendly matches and thought Japan can dominate any team. It's not realistic.
3-1 for Sweden by Gyökeres. That was a total brain fart by the Tunisian captain leading up to this. If our boys start next game the right way, we should be able to pad up the stats in goalscoring.
I know this is a World Cup and anything can happen (think of the Qatar-Switzerland game and several other games in previous World Cups) but if Japan cannot beat this Tunisian team at least 2-0 then they should pack their bags and leave the tournament right after that game.
Not to taking anything away but on the first goal the keeper is way out and the second goal is a blunder. Still Isak and Gyökeres is very good and active