Team Preview – Japan
There are lots of similarities between Samurai Blue and the Socceroos: Neither was a World Cup mainstay before the past two decades, both rely on an aging core group of stars based in Europe, with the remainder of the team young locally-based players looking for a ticket to the big money in England or Germany. Both teams are less successful, but more well-known, than their respective women’s team. Both qualified early for this year’s World Cup, but it hasn’t always been that way.
The darkest moment in Australian qualification history occurred in the qualification for France 1998. For Japan their football history doesn’t get any worse than The Agony of Doha, when a 90th minute goal against Iraq sent arch-rivals South Korea to USA 1994 in their place (funnily enough, it’s called “The Miracle of Doha” in Korea).
But since the tragedy of ’94 Samurai Blue have qualified for 5 successive World Cups, and despite going into Brazil as rank outsiders – they came second last in the Confederations Cup in Brazil last year, not managing a single point – they led Italy 3-0 after a dominant 70 minutes in their first match, only to go down 4-3 – despite all this they’re not without a chance, and are sure to win some admirers with their brand of beautiful football, based on fluid attacking movement.
Manager: Alberto Zaccheroni
Zaccheroni, or “Zac” as he’s affectionately known in the Japanese media joined the Japanese national team in 2010, after varied stints at some of Italy’s biggest clubs. His time as manager began with an historic 1-0 victory over Argentina, followed by Asian Cup success in Qatar. Since then he’s made the team his own, raising a few eyebrows with his player selections. He has been criticised as reluctant to try anything new, going with some players – most notably captain Makoto Hasebe and defender Maya Yoshida – who have been sidelined with injury for most of 2014.
Star Player: Shinji Kagawa
The under-utilised Manchester United playmaker may have missed out on selection for South Africa 2010, and may be heading back to Dortmund (the club of choice for Japanese footballers making a start in Europe), but underestimate him at your peril. Linking up in the midfield with AC Milan’s Keisuke Honda (also under-utilised since his move from CSKA Moscow) and a third attacking midfielder, Kagawa’s ability to control the play will serve Japan well in Group C against Colombia, Greece and Cote d’Ivoire.
Who to look out for: Eiji Kawashima, Atsuto Uchida, Keisuke Honda
Once again the theme of questionable selections comes up – all three have a long history of success at both club and national level, but have been battling with lack of form and match time recently. Kawashima, long-time Japanese number 1 had a good season with Belgian side Standard Liège, but has not been the presence he once was in goal for the national side. Uchida scored in Japan’s final home preparation match, a lackluster 1-0 defeat of lowly Cyprus in Saitama, and is a key part of Zac’s midfield link-up, but missed much of this year at Schalke with a thigh injury. Honda on the other hand is uninjured, but severely lacked game time since his late-season move from Russia to Italy. With such a large portion of the Japanese side lacking recent match-time, there is a chance that Japan could not make it out of the group stage.
The draw: Group C – Cote d’Ivoire, Colombia, Greece
That being said, Japan will go into the group stage knowing that each match for them is winnable. If their midfield can hold possession well enough in their opening match against Cote d’Ivoire on June 14th, and if their shaky defence can hold off Les Éléphants’ attack, Japan will go into their final two matches against much higher ranked Colombia and Greece with confidence.
Prediction: Round of 16.
Once again Japan will fail to make it past the second round. They have enough talent and skill to deal with at least one of their group opponents, and should draw one other match, but later on in the tournament their lack of match-time and the holes in their defence will start to show, and once again they’ll go down bravely in the round of 16, going down to either surprise group D winners England, or Uruguay.
FTSAUS Fact:
Japan was banned from entering the World Cup last time it was held in Brazil, in 1950. West Germany was also banned by FIFA, and the newly formed nation of East Germany had no football association.
Previous World Cup best appearance: Round of 16.
2002: Lost 0-1 to Turkey in the round of 16.
2010: Lost to Paraguay 5-3 on penalties, after finishing extra time 0-0.
Extra Time:
Japan are perhaps the only nation in the world who want to see Uruguayan star Luis Suarez sidelined, as it would mean a certain starting place for veteran Diego Forlan, Golden Ball winner in South Africa. Since Forlan’s lucrative move to Cerezo Osaka at the beginning of this J League season, “The Forlan Effect” has seen crowd sizes literally double when the Uruguayan star is playing. Unfortunately, many of these extra fans leave as soon as Forlan is subbed off, and perhaps even more unfortunately, a Round of 16 clash between Uruguay and Japan could see Forlan score the winning goal against some of his clubmates.
