If you said that last year, I would have agreed. Hiroki Sakai has improved a lot this year, especially defensively, and instead a recovering Uchida, fully-fit Hiroki Sakai might be better.
Uchida had a much better season than Sakai, physical prowess doesn't get you anywhere if you're constantly out of position.
I do, but I'm not sure why people think that Hasebe is a starter. It's a possibility, but we don't know how he is.
Half a season, and it certainly wasn't 'a much better season'. Uchida is hardly any better in terms of being caught out of position. Yes, Uchida is comparatively better than Hiroki Sakai, but Uchida isn't fully-fit, but Sakai is.
Komano and Yasuda are "real full backs" ? What? 4 or 5 years ago I had high hopes for Yasuda, but his stint in Netherlands didn't go anywhere and he's languishing in JLeague now. Even so, he was the same style as Uchida. Now a poor man's Uchida on the left. Always thought Komano was rather over rated. And he too is more of a wingback throughout his career. Nagatomo is one of the very few "real full back"; and only because of his ridiculous work rate that allows him to still go forward like aforementioned players but still gets back to fulfill his defensive duties. You also seem rather critical of Tulio. Maybe most of his goals come from PKs now, but I remember watching him for years go on one-man streaks from the backfield and assist or score. Or Urawa subbing players in and moving him up to the front; or outright starting him as a forward or midfielder depending on injuries. Tulio was an all rounder, and he -- along with Nakazawa -- were rocks for JNT during their tenures. It got sketchy towards the end as I think they lost form and couldn't keep up club and NT responsibilities as they got older. Speak of, to anyone who thinks we should bring back players like Naka, Bomberhead, Tulio, etc. -- I'm pretty positive that their club revivals are in large part owed to the fact that they no longer have NT stuff to deal with. They did that circuit, practically playing football nonstop all year with nary a chance to recover, for years on end. Particularly Naka between SPL, UCL, and being the focal point of JNT. I'm a huge fan of his, and I'm thrilled his form has improved with Marinos since returning... but no interest in seeing him wear JNT jersey again.
I don't like Yasuda, I think he sucks. I was merely talking about the fact that Zac will probably pick someone who really plays as fullback, something Shiotani or Makino don't, and indeed he did... As for Tulio, he's been just bad in the last 2 years, I didn't dislike him. Btw ugh, I don't know if they were "rocks". They were pretty bad when the JNT had serious friendlies in 2010 before the WC... in the end I think the World Cup was a result of collective work, but I'm glad they kept composure.
I'm pretty sure he could be the hero against Netherlands when Okada put him on the pitch while losing 0-1 aiming for a fk to solve the question. And if Japan had won the pks he would play in the quarter final for sure cuz the other player (can't remember who, maybe Endo? Dunno) was suspended (2 yellow cards).
Naka came on as a sub in that game -- and I'm pretty sure Endo could provide the same ability as a sub. Or Honda for that matter, who'd likely already be in the game... and actually scored on a FK in 2010 instead of just coming close. On the other hand, maybe Endo starts and is subbed off ~60-70min into each game instead. Like I said, it got sketchy towards the end. And I think it got sketchy b/c they were getting old and couldn't handle the schedule anymore. But for that entire cycle they had been crucial to JNT's success in a period where we struggled mightily to score goals. We still lack a real poacher, but we didn't even have a Honda or Kagawa or Kakitani or Osako at the time. We were starting guys like Okubo, Tamada, Yamase, Maeda... and relying on Okazaki as a poacher (whereas now he's more like a contributor and often plays from the wings). Takahara didn't pan out. Morimoto didn't pan out. That's why we ended up with Honda as the forward in WC.
He's way better, really. Sakai warmed the bench on numerous occasions because his defending is naive and stupid. He's also very card prone.
endo still a key player for us i know hes odl and fat but hes the player who can crntrl the game against top teams and also our best set piece taker
I have no issue letting Honda take FKs. I'd hate to see us play somebody just to take set pieces... we don't really have that luxury. Endo is quality, but at 34 i have a hard time believing he can withstand what will be a very physical Ivory Coast or Colombia. Maybe against Greece to help break them down and utterly control with our midfield... but even then i cant see him lasting a full 90.
Yasuhito "Young Miyagi Sensei" Endo is a perfect supersub for us when the opponents are tired and he can use his class to ******** them hard in the ass especially if he's on fire.
Probably a foregone conclusion but here's my prediction: Kawashima, Morishige, Yoshida, Uchida, Nagatomo, Yamaguchi, Hasebe, Kagawa, Honda, Okazaki, Kakitani Only question marks are Okazaki vs. Okubo and Kakitani vs. Osako.