speechless yet again
well, they say it's the match of the tournament. and i ended up on the wrong side of the score again. euro 2004 again. only this time, japan, unlike holland, didnt throw away a 2 goal lead. they just never found the third equaliser.
and considering that both your centrebacks got the goals, something is surely very wrong. i never expect much from seiichiro maki anyway. he is just a lousy imitation of inzaghi. but takahara was not himself.
so was keita suzuki. he never got to any of those 50-50 balls, never won the challenges in midfield. and that's why saudi kept breaking forward.
shunsuke nakamura never left gear one. in fact, he never really did for the entire tournament. some classy touches here and there, and a few assists, but you just get the feeling that he never lifted his game. today was no exception.
akira kaji was everything the critics said he was. the weak link in japan's defence.
don't get me wrong. japan played well. they did very well to come back within 5 minutes the first two times they went behind. they just couldn't cope with the saudis' counter attacks.
the difference between japan and saudi is that saudi has two or three players who are bloody quick and skilful, and can take on defences by themselves, whereas japan usually relies on their passing to create openings. on this day, you might say the direct approach won.
i thought osim did very well to take japan to this level. i think this is the best football japan has played in modern times. much better than troussier's and zico's. but osim failed terribly in one aspect. he has been accused of favouring jef united players. and there are quite a number of them in his squad. the controversy is that jef united are in the bottom half of the table in the J league. and you look at his squad again, at the bench, and you know what the hell is the problem.
there is no one to come in and win the game.
when sato came on, nobody was excited. when hanyu came on, nobody gave a damn. when yano came on, who the hell was he? sure, hanyu hit the crossbar. but after endo and kengo nakamura left the pitch, i think it was over. japan's best team was no longer on the pitch.
i think yasser al qatani will be the player of the tournament. which is a disappointment for me, because i thought yuji nakazawa was deserving of it. and for me to say that a defender deserves to be named the player of the tournament says something about him. because i never really realise what a really outstanding defender is like until i watched him play. maybe because in the epl, in european football, in la liga, you always focus on the attack. and somehow, at asian cup level, you can take the time to look at how centre backs play. i thought nakazawa has been fantastic, consistent, strong, and really a leader at the back. reads the game well, scored the first equaliser, scored that winning penalty against australia. so you can say he contributed to attack and defence. he shone out in the japan team, really. and to me, japan played the best football in the competition. even better than the saudis.
it's just such a shame that things have turned out this way.
it's the same old story again.
and considering that both your centrebacks got the goals, something is surely very wrong. i never expect much from seiichiro maki anyway. he is just a lousy imitation of inzaghi. but takahara was not himself.
so was keita suzuki. he never got to any of those 50-50 balls, never won the challenges in midfield. and that's why saudi kept breaking forward.
shunsuke nakamura never left gear one. in fact, he never really did for the entire tournament. some classy touches here and there, and a few assists, but you just get the feeling that he never lifted his game. today was no exception.
akira kaji was everything the critics said he was. the weak link in japan's defence.
don't get me wrong. japan played well. they did very well to come back within 5 minutes the first two times they went behind. they just couldn't cope with the saudis' counter attacks.
the difference between japan and saudi is that saudi has two or three players who are bloody quick and skilful, and can take on defences by themselves, whereas japan usually relies on their passing to create openings. on this day, you might say the direct approach won.
i thought osim did very well to take japan to this level. i think this is the best football japan has played in modern times. much better than troussier's and zico's. but osim failed terribly in one aspect. he has been accused of favouring jef united players. and there are quite a number of them in his squad. the controversy is that jef united are in the bottom half of the table in the J league. and you look at his squad again, at the bench, and you know what the hell is the problem.
there is no one to come in and win the game.
when sato came on, nobody was excited. when hanyu came on, nobody gave a damn. when yano came on, who the hell was he? sure, hanyu hit the crossbar. but after endo and kengo nakamura left the pitch, i think it was over. japan's best team was no longer on the pitch.
i think yasser al qatani will be the player of the tournament. which is a disappointment for me, because i thought yuji nakazawa was deserving of it. and for me to say that a defender deserves to be named the player of the tournament says something about him. because i never really realise what a really outstanding defender is like until i watched him play. maybe because in the epl, in european football, in la liga, you always focus on the attack. and somehow, at asian cup level, you can take the time to look at how centre backs play. i thought nakazawa has been fantastic, consistent, strong, and really a leader at the back. reads the game well, scored the first equaliser, scored that winning penalty against australia. so you can say he contributed to attack and defence. he shone out in the japan team, really. and to me, japan played the best football in the competition. even better than the saudis.
it's just such a shame that things have turned out this way.
it's the same old story again.
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