Ok guys. It's been a good run. Until we meet again the next WC. Farewell. . . . Jokes aside. That is one tough group. Spain is ... well Spain, and I don't think Germany would accept getting ousted from the GS twice in a row. Costa Rica/New Zealand on paper are beatable but you may never know. The only way I see Japan survives this is to snatch draws somehow from both Germany and Spain, win against Costa Rica/New Zealand, but still, it depends on other teams results.
I don't know I sense an opportunity here. Germany not unbeatable and had a poor Euro + WC, Spain a big opponent but probably of the big teams the one Japan most suited for. I sense a Portugal vs Japan friendly coming up as the Portuguese team are playing S Korea.
The only positive about Japan's WC draw: Both Spain and Germany may underestimate Japan, while Japan will work hard to get a positive result against both teams, a draw and lose by 1-goal deficit or 2 draws against those teams will be huge for Japan. Which means a surprise in the making. Japan shall not underestimate Costa Rica and New Zealand and make their bear to win this match.
I think its worse that the 4th team is weak. If all teams are fairly strong then you can expect some teams to take points off others. If there's one weak team then getting a win means nothing because everyone else will probably get a win too. Japan needs a win against Germany or Spain to advance unless CR/NZ can get a result against either Spain or Germany. Draws against both is also good.
So, for friendly matches the Argentina and Brazil matches in June can go ahead now. Portugal, Uruguay, and Ghana may be interested to face Japan as a preparation to face Sout Korea. Teams from Japan's group (E) will face teams in Belgium's group (F) in the last 16, so teams from Group F may be interested to face Japan in a friendly as a potential last 16 opponents. A friendly against Belgium or Croatia as a preparation for the match against Germany. I would say Switzrland and Austria are the closest team to Germany's playstyle. Switzerland may face South Korea in the last 16, so they might be interested. While as a preparation to face Spain facing Latin American teams will be good as a preparation for both matches against Spain and Costa Rica, but the most important things is to tune-in well for the first match against Germany, then the match against Costa Rica / New Zealand as it will be the second match. A draw against Germany and a win against Costa Rica / New Zealand will make Japan approach the last match against Spain with good chances of qualification to R16, then they might only need to draw against Spain to secure their passage to last 16.
Spain play possession football, and are in a rebuild. Japan has to try and frustrate them with a mobile defense, or try and play defensive possession football, which is hard, but Moriyasu might like the idea? IDK. Germany use their height more, but they haven't been brilliant in the qualifiers. If Korea beat them, so can Japan. Fighting spirit can overcome skill.
It seems the Japanese reactions (at least from what I translated on Yahoo News Japan comments) are positive about the group so far.
The German forum underestimates Japan because we finished second in our group behind Saudi Arabia. Moreover, it talks about the defeat we had against Oman. I can't wait for us to surprise the whole world!
This is good. Let them underestimate Japan until the wake up by a surprise result in their opening WC fixture.
We dont underestimate you guys. You are the big favorites together with Spain. Lets not forget we didnt make it out of group last time around
Stop that nosense now. This bs irrittates me, stfu and work hard JFA. I hope that there will be NOT other idiotic interview like in 2014 when Honda and Nagatomo claimed that Japan would win the WC, this is like humble yourself in front of the world. And the curse keep going: no final16 in 2022. Let's wait for 2026. EXCEPT the Moriyasu-factor will break the fabric of reality, the curse itself, and make the guys overperforming. My prediction for every match: Vs Germany Japan take the lead (Minamino) Germany draw, score 2nd and in the injury time the 3rd. Final result: 1 - 3 Vs New Zeland Japan has 80% of ball possession, shoot 13 times on the net but 0 goal then pk for NZ (Yoshida tackle someone's ankle), Eiji saves, clear chance with empity net in the injury time, Asano miss to score. Final result: 0 - 0 Vs Spain (spaniards just qualified) Japan take the lead (Kubo) Spain equalises and then take the lead Japan desperately attack with all the forces (in all the offensive subs) Clear pk not allowed for JNT (Maeda grounded by Alba) despite VAR Spain scored 3rd and 4th Final result 1 - 4 Farewell Moriyasu.
I repped your post because it made me laugh badly. Anyway, historically whenever @teioh is going in full pessimistic mode the results turn the other way around. A good omen (at least) .
I think we are all not expecting a passage to last 16, not only Japan's fans but also any football fan around the world is sharing the same expectation. So, pressure is off for Japan team, they just need to go to Qatar and try to do their best. Getting good results is a BONUS.
I think this group will be much harder if we got Ecuador, Cameroon, or the Winner from UEFA playoff, then it will be truly the group of death. Japan faced a World Cup winner twice in the Group Stage in their World Cup history, in 1998 and 2006, and in both occasions they were knocked out of the Group Stage. Japan had a heavyweight team which is not a WC champions once, in 2010, where they drawn in Netherlands group, and they managed to progress to the last 16. In the other 3 World Cups, Japan was drawn in balanced groups, and they manged to progress in 2 out of these 3 to the last 16. However, this time around Japan is drawn against two heavyweight teams who are both former World Cup champions, which makes matters harder for Japan. In a positive note, Japan was never thrashed by a European team in the WC, they either win or lose by a 1-goal margin or draw. Hence, Japan matches against European teams in the World Cup always tend to be tight matches. Even against Croatia in 1998 (when Croatia entered the competition as 1996 Euro quarterfinalist and then went on to knock out Germany and finished in 3rd place in the 1998 World Cup), and against Netherlands in 2010 (during that tournament Netherlands went on to reach the final and finished as runners-up), in both occasions Japan lost against both teams by 0-1. The only match involving Japan and a European team which didn't end by a draw or 1-goal margin was Japan's 3-1 win against Denmark in the 2010 World Cup. In another positive note, Japan rarely get thrashed or beaten by more than 1-goal margin against European teams even in friendly matches since 2000, they lost 0-5 vs. France in 2001, 0-3 vs. Norway in 2002, 0-3 vs. Germany in 2004, 0-3 vs. Netherlands in 2009, 0-3 vs. Serbia in 2010, 0-2 vs. Bulgaria in 2013, 0-2 vs. Serbia in 2013, and 0-2 vs. Switzerland in 2018. This is 8 defeats out of 22 defeats in around 67 official and friendly matches Japan played again European teams since 2000. Hence, around 2/3 of Japan's loses against European countries were by a 1-goal margin only. So, it is pretty uncommon for Japan to lose heavily against Europeat teams, while they never lost by more than 1-goal margin in official matches. This is all positive stats for Japan. If we added to this that Japan never failed to qualify to the last 16 when their group contained 2 European clubs, in both 2002 and 2010 Japan was drawn in groups with 2 European teams, in both cases Japan managed to progress to the last 16 after winning one of their matches against one of the European teams and either lose by a 1-goal margin or draw with the other.
Whatever Moriyasu does, I hope it doesn't involve inviting crosses with a deep block. Yes, Tomiyasu and Yoshida (Itakura) are of decent height, but still. Medium defensive line, with occasional press to force opponents into cautious passes back to the CB-s and keeper (Spain and Germany will do this) should work well. Also, Hatate's defensive interceptions should get him a spot in the midfield, IMO.
It was unlucky to get Germany from Pot 2, but I’m actually okay with this group. Spain and Germany should be favorites to progress, being who they are, but I feel that we at least have a chance at getting a result against either of them. And if not, with the game against Costa Rica/NZ, we hopefully can show what we can do on the world stage in a game that we ought to be favored to win.
Costa Rica should beat New Zealand pretty easily imho. CR will sit 5 at the back with Navas one of the top keepers in the world and look to counter so Japan has to maintain discipline and play through the midfield. There is a way forward for Japan but they have to approach the group as getting a draw against Spain or Germany and then pouring it all into beating CR who aren’t the same team away from home. Japan is the best team in Asia and isn’t going to be blown off the field if they come in with the right mindset and pick their spots to attack
Japan will IMO beat Costa Rica (even comfortably) if they take the lead, which is when Japan's strengths really show. Until then, lack of quality #9 players makes it hard for Japan to score reliably on an opposition that is defensively set. But I don't think Japan is hopeless against Spain or Germany. Japan do have a reasonable chance of 4 points despite a tough draw.
Hansiflick - was ist das? #vflbochum #meinVfL #Asano #questiontime #mademyday pic.twitter.com/Onoa15wwbb— Dirk Kropp 🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@DirkKropp) April 4, 2022