Confederations Cup:
Japan 3 - 0 Canada

Date: 31 May, 2001 Location: Niigata "Big Swan" Stadium Japan 3 0 1H 0 3 2H 0 0 Canada Ono (57') Nishizawa (60') Morishima (88') Scoring Inamoto Cautions McKenna Seigo Narazaki, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Kenichi Uemura (Masashi Nakayama 38'), Ryuzo Morioka, Koji Nakata, Teruyoshi Ito (Tomokazu Myojin 67'), Kazuyuki Toda, Hidetoshi Nakata (Atsuhiro Miura 81'), Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono, Hiroaki Morishima, Akinori Nishizawa Craig Forrest, Mark Watson, Jason Devos, Jason Bent, Daniel Imhof (Tam Nsaliwa 63'), Paul Stalteri, Carl Fletcher, Kevin McKenna, Davide Xausa (Carlo Corazzin 79' ), Paul Peschisolido, Jim Brennan

Despite their inauspiciaous start to the year, losing badly to France and getting outplayed in Spain, Japan entered the Confederations' Cup with high hopes. Not only was the team playing on home ground, but their triumph at the 2000 Asian Cup had developed the confidence and professionalism of every NT member. Even so, Japan was quite fortunate in its draw, facing Canada first, followed by Cameroon and with Brazil as the last opponent in the group. Conditions might have been different had they faced a serious challenge in their first test.

This is not to say that Canada were a weak opponent. On the contrary, they provide a stern physical test, using their size, speed and relentless challenges to keep Japan at bay for 45 minutes. One reason why Japan's attack misfired so frequently in the first half was that their opponent knew exactly what their strategy had to be, and they executed it to near perfection. While Japan had the vast majority of posession, the team from the great white north chose to sit back in a defensive stance and deny all of Japan's high balls or through passes via a line of towering 190-cm giants (the announcer made frequent references to the "Rocky Mountains"). The deft midfielders -- Brennan, Xausa, Imhof and Stalteri -- darted back and forth sniffing out errant passes in Japan's midfield, and when they had a chance to pounce, tried to send their forwards away on a break in which speed and size were all that mattered. Nevertheless, Japan were visibly superior in technical skill, using crisp short passes to keep Canada off balance, and steadily building offensive pressure.

Japan nearly got a quick lead, which might have made the match a very different affair. In the 9 minute, Canada's back line made what may have been its only major error of the first half. Forward Akinori Nishizawa beat his man, rushed unhindered into the penalty area . . . and then drilled a bullet straight into the chest of Craig Forrest. Having been let off the hook, Canada tightened their defensive pressure, and had very good success for the remainder of the half, not only fending off Japan's thrusts, but also creating a few dangerous charges down the wings. Only some good cover-up defending by Shimizu S-Pulse midfielders Kazuyuki Toda and Teruyoshi Ito kept Canada from a dangerous shot on goal.

As half time approached, Troussier apparently realised that if Japan could just score one goal, it would completely alter the character of the match. Thus, with just 35 minutes gone, he pulled right defender Kenichi Uemura and replaced him with striker Masashi "Gon" Nakayama. Though Canada's defence held up until the half time whistle, Japan's attacks started to gather momentum and though the two teams went in at half time 0 - 0, Japan seemed to at last be finding their stride.

By the second half, Canada's players were starting to wilt, and as the hard-running and constant ball challenges of the first half evaporated, the scoring opportunites for Japan started to come in bunches. Ten minutes into the second half, the Rocky Mountains finally crumbled. A nice one-two at midfield allowed Hidetoshi Nakata to feed Nakayama a nice lead pass, and the Canadian defender was forced to knock him off his feet rather than concede a breakaway on goal. The free kick was awarded just two metres outside the box, almost straight away from goal. Nakata and Shinji Ono lined up over the ball, and (as they related after the match), did a verbal "rock-paper-scissors" to decide who would take the kick. Ono called out "scissors" to Nakata's "paper", and sent the subsequent shot curling over the wall and into the top left corner. Forrest didnt even move. Japan were on top 1-0.

Once Japan had the lead, it was clear that Troussier's instincts were correct. The strategy of denial defence may have worked well, for a time, once Canada fell behind, it was obvious that all of the other pages in their playbook were blank. A goal down, their strategy of hanging back on defence was meaningless, but as soon as the midfield started to push forward, Japan's superior ball skills started opening up gaping holes. Just three minutes after Ono's goal, Nakata fed Nakayama another long, pinpoint pass, and this time Nakayama turned his defender and rushed towards the box unmarked. Looking up, he spotted Hiroaki Morishima at the opposite side of the penalty area, with more open pasture around him than an angry bull at feeding time. Gon lobbed the ball across the box, and Morishima volleyed it out of the air to former Cerezo Osaka teammate Akinori Nishizawa. Nishizawa brought the crowd of 40,000 to its feet as he sailed through the air and sent a diving header past Forrest and into the back of the net.

The next 20 minutes were somewhat frenetic. Japan continued to open up holes in the Canadian defence and came close on two or three occasions, but they were too cautious about the risk of Canadian counterattacks to throw players forward into attack. As a result, most of the chances ran out of steam before producing a shot. Canada, meanwhile, was desperately trying to use its speed and size to create an opportunity, using long balls down the wings and high crosses to the middle. The strategy nearly paid off once or twice, but solid work by Kawaguchi and the rest of the defence kept them off the scoreboard.

The icing on the cake came in the 87 minute, as a nice ball exchange at midfield scrambled the Canadian defence, until they were no longer exactly sure of who they were supposed to be covering. Shinji Ono received the ball about 40 metres out from goal with several teammates around him. He faked a pass and delayed long enough to make eye contact with Morishima on the right sideline, and just as Morishima turned on the acceleration, Ono drilled a through pass that left the defence skewered, sliced open and laid out to dry like a British Columbian salmon at a Sunday smoke-off. Morishima collected the pass, calmly measured the vertical dimensions of the right goal post, and then flicked the ball over Forrest and into the high right corner, to close out the scoring.

Below is the full roster for the Confederations Cup: