Another Japan U-whatever match, another absolutely shit keeper. Where do they dredge these clowns up? Aside from that, it looked like Iran was playing two men up they were dominating so hard. Just unbelievable luck, including the dubious disallowed goal, that they didn't tie it up. Why do our youth teams either play beautiful football and lose, or play like shit and lose, except in this case play like shit and get an incredibly lucky win. Get it sorted, JFA!
What are you on about, it's not even our best U21 side.... Not by a long shot. Really the fact we beat that Iranian team was more a demonstration of the depth of Japanese youth football, they had their best u21 side plus 2 overage and a 22 year old, even if they were better it's damn impressive I didn't think japan would win this one. Particularly coming from a goal down. Cause you could put an entire U21 japan NT on the pitch that would include maybe only 3 of these players if it was our best.
I don't say only luck made Japan won or it was pure luck, kudos to our young players, nice goals and hard work. But I think this is also too extreme. That offside call was very close call,it could go other way easily and so Japan was lucky and Iran was unlucky . And "they missed chances, it is their fault" is partialy true, but form long-term standpoint , it is something just "it was not their day" and you can't expect such thing when we meet them next. Zico Japan won Asian cup and many other games with not convincing way, and some said Japan won so Japan is good and it is not luck, but in the end what heppened? (though I am not saying this team is like Zico Japan). Anyway ,luck is part of game and very often you need it to win , so there is no need to deny luck, but also I don't want to overrate the win when oppoent has clearly more possesion and more chances, and feel Japan is lucky.
But it has nothing to do with luck, no ? Our goals were well built and totally deserved and if Iran wanted to come back, they just had to score a legit goal. They were not unlucky, even if this offside was close (but ruled correctly), we just defended well. That said, I'm not overrating the victory, but it's still very good coming from a bunch of guys who do not get playing time in their clubs. I'm very impressed by both Nagai and Yamazaki.
Those photo I posted in other thread were small and took from distant, I am not sure that was correct call, just know very close. And I think "Luck works both ways" but in previous game more works our ways. Anyway I think it is sterile to argue more, something like arguing about Determinism and indeterminism, and I was also pleased about our players performance, contrary to many games by Zico Japan.
In the end, what happened was that Zico Japan came extremely close to getting better results than Okada Japan. There were two critical lapses - the final five minutes of the Australia match by Kawaguchi (and the whole defence really) and the missed shot by Yanagisawa against Croatia. Both very minor bad breaks that are no different in scale from getting an offside call go your way. So if you insist that Japan was "just lucky" in this tournament, then Zico was a great coach who was "just unlucky" in two critical matches. Im sick and tired of listening to people try to do revisionism on Zico. That team achieved as much as any other recent Japan NT, and the reasons for failure can be traced mainly to the faults of the Japan media, which drove Zico into a stubborn mindset where he wasnt willing to change players like Tanaka, Yanagisawa and Fukunishi because they had come through for him before. What Zico achieved in CHina was simply phenomenal, and luck had nothing to do with it. Japan wouldnt have needed to be "lucky" in China if Endo hadnt been sent off in the first half for deliberately hitting a player in the elbow with his chin (by no means the only bad call in that tournament). The fact that they overcame those factors proves what a mentally tough team that was The facts speak for themselves - Zico continues to be the winningest coach in Japan history (well, up to Zack) and he played far superior opponents than the ones that faced Troussier, Osim or Okada. Erase the last five minutes of the Australia match, and Zico would be the most successful coach EVER for Japan. Im not saying he was great, as Im sure people are aware I bashed him a lot while he was still coach. But those who insist on rewriting the past in order to blame someone else for their own disappointment are talking out the wrong end of their digestive tract. The same goes for this current group. Anyone who can even THINK about criticising them is a flat-out moron. I can name a J1 or overseas player at EVERY SINGLE POSITION who is more talented/experienced, and could have qualified for the Asian Games. They arent there because the JFA deliberately chose not to send them. Considering how well that team has performed DESPITE those drawbacks, its ridiculous that anyone could say something negative about them. Have you watched any of the games? The crowd goes mental every time the other team even touches the ball, and you havent even heard a HINT of what sort of pressure and conditions these kids face in China when they arent on the pitch. Yet the team has a perfect record and has only conceded ONE GOAL. Thats nothing short of amazing!!!! If you arent going to start off your post by giving the team every single bit of credit they deserve (and I reckon that will take you about 20 paragraphs), then you should probably just keep your criticism to yourself. Its about as out-of-place as Matsuko Deluxe in a Takano Yuri ad.
About luck I am only focusing what happened on the pich, so as to this matter, I pass over the fact this tema is away form best memebers. And I was pleased about our players performance ,they showed nice comeback from one goal down , scored two nice goals(one was very good) and did hard work. If you read my previous posts, you know this. My posts are short , so you don't need to read 20 paragraphs!
Nagai's pace starting to look dangerous against a fairly flat-footed UAE. 2nd half Japan should definitely have the legs, UAE had two consecutive 120min games against the Koreas.
What is more annoying? 1 - How Japanese players never take a shot? 2 - How the Chinese would support even a team of aliens, if they'd play against Japan?
CCTV isn't even showing the match today. It's showing athletics and diving live but waiting until 0830 tomorrow to show the men's football final. Typical. I won't miss this place.
I am quite sure even Matsu will agree this time we were lucky. A double-crossbar, I don't think I have ever seen that. Anyway, Japan doesn't look that good, today. I hope one of the boys will come up with some individual play. Nothing would piss-off the haters more than an undeserved, lucky victory...
Best we can hope for is UAE get tired or somebody does something flash. Just as typing this Nagai looks the goods to do that 'flash' thing then gets hacked to pieces by 4 defenders and apparently at the same time committed a foul.