National Team Match:
Japan 0 - 2 Argentina

Date: 8 June, 2003 Location: Nagai Stadium, Osaka Japan 0 0 1H 0 0 2H 2 2 Argentina Scoring Juan Pablo Sorin (46') Hernan Crespo (48') -- Cautions -- Seigo Narazaki, Yutaka Akita, Naoki Masuda, Akira Narahashi (Nobuhisa Yamada 62), Eisuke Nakanishi Koji Nakata, Takashi Fukunishi, Mitsuo Ogasawara (Yasuhito Endo 67), Shunsuke Nakamura (Alessandro Santos 580), Takayuki Suzuki (Masashi Nakayama 55) Naohiro Takahara Cavallero, Ayala, Quiroga (Pochettino 89) Samuel, Zanetti, Almeyda, Sorin, Veron, Ortega (Saviola 73), C. Lopez (Kily Gonzalez 65), Crespo (Solari 83);

Japan's final national team match of the year could have provided an uplifting result, if the team had not fallen asleep for three minutes after half time. In a contest against the very best that Argentina had to offer, Japan played a highly competitive game, and even had the better scoring chances for most of the first half. Considering that the team was without many of its top midfielders, this MIGHT have been viewed as a very fine performance

But unfortunately, football matches last 90 minutes, not 87. And for the second match in a row, Japan allowed their opponent to wriggle off the hook by letting down their guard for just a breif spell. As a result, the optimism that one can draw from the fine content of their performance over most of the match has to be tempered by the knowledge that they still lack that essential element that determines the difference between winning teams and mediocre ones -- call it a "killer instinct", or call it "knowing how to win", call it "poise & experience", call it whatever you will. The simple fact is that Japan still does not have it.

The match kicked off with a few attempts by the Argentine side to steal a quick lead. Ariel Ortega and Claudio Lopez both made aggressive forays into Japan's end of the field, as if to test the mettle of their opponent. But they quickly discovered that the back line was too solid to give way to this sort of tactic. Yutaka Akita and Naoki Matsuda both had fine performances over the course of the match, cutting out nearly every pass aimed at the open space behind the defence, while Mitsuo Ogasawara, and Takashi Fukunishi and Koji Nakata put on a sterling display of ball pressure and man-marking, which should make it clear that the so-called "golden quartet" of midfielders are not necessarily indispensable for Japan's success.

On the offensive end, Japan created a number of good opportunities throughout the first half, particularly based on creativity at midfield. Shunsuke Nakamura did a good job of orchestrating the offense, but it was actually Ogasawara, Nakata, and wing back and Akira Narahashi who made essential contributions to the building attack. Unfortunately, the team still has not found a productive finisher. Naohiro Takahara put on a fairly good performance, taking on the Argentine defenders on the dribble and moving well into space, but he misfired on the two real scoring chances that he had over the course of the match. If anything, Takayuki Suzuki was even more incapable of hitting the net, though that has never been his forte. He did manage to disrupt the Argentine defence to some extent with his "bull in a china shop" style of play, but all in all, veteran Masashi Nakayama made a more dangerous partner for Takahara up front (and that isnt saying much).

Japan's two best chances of the half came on the stroke of 20 and 30 minutes. The first opportunity emerged following a free kick by Nakamura on the right sideline. His centering kick was cleared by the Argentine defence, but fell to Narahashi about 35 meters from goal. Narahashi blasted a low, spinning line drive through the legs of the outrushing defenders, which just happened to hit squarely at the feet of Takahara. The Jubilo striker spun around and fired off a quick shot before any defender could react, but pulled his shot just wide of the left post. In the 30 minute, Ogasawara played a perfect reverse-field pass from the left sideline, close to midfield. The pinpoint, 50-meter pass sent Narahashi completely free down the right flank, but as he neared the box and still had no defender challenging his shot, Narahashi elected to shoot for the top corner of goal, rather than wait for his forwards to get into position. Once again, the shot was off the mark, and Japan's second seriousscoring chance went by the boards.

Remarkably, Japan limited Argentina to just one dangerous shot over the entire 45 minutes. Though they played a number of good balls into Japan's end, there was always a defender to cut off the final pass or block the driving Argentine player. It wasnt until the 44 minute that Crespo found enough open space to unleash a looping shot from about 25 meters which Seigo Narazaki had to flick over the crossbar. Over the first 45 minutes, Japan could easily claim to have played Argentina all even. In fact, they might even have had a slight edge.

But it all fell apart in the first three minutes of the second half. Within 60 seconds of the restart, Juan Veron woin a free kick on the right sideline and slipped a pass in to Ortega at the top right corner of the box. Eisuke Nakanishi apparently fell asleep at half time, because he failed to react to the pass, allowing Ortega to collect the ball unchallenged, and slide it on to Juan Pablo Sorin, at the penalty spot, for an easy blast past the dive of Narazaki. Just two minutes later, Nakanishi again failed to cover his man as Veron again found an open man on the right side -- this time Zanetti. With Nakanishi playing too far off him, Zanetti had time to find Hernan Crespo at the far post for a header that gave Argentina a 2-0 advantage.

Having conceded a two-goal advantage to an opponent the calibre of Argentina, Japan's chances of getting back into the match were virtually nil, though they did give it a good effort. Argentina were content to preserve their advantage, and as such, Japan were on the offensive for most of the second half, with Argentina just hanging back and playing as much ball-control as they could, to kill time. Alessandro Santos, Yasuhito Endo and Nobuhisa Yamada all received extended playing time, and although they did not make any spectacular plays, neither were they an embarassment. Truly, the only player on Japan's side who failed to make the grade in this match was Nakanishi. Even the aging Nakayama created some good chances up front and looked competitive even against the skilled Argentine defenders.

Providing a post-mortem on this match is rather difficult, since one could choose to look at it in either an optimistic light or a pessimistic one. On the positive side, Japan were able to look competitive with -- indeed, sometimes even better than -- some of the very best that they are ever likely to encounter. All four midfielders deserve high marks, as they repeatedly frustrated players the calibre of Veron, Crespo and Ortega. The defence, apart from Nakanishi, also performed very well -- and even Nakanishi looked reasonably competitive apart from his five-minute lapse after half time. Nevertheless, it should be clear to Zico that his first personnel priority will be to identify someone who can hold down the left side of the defence. Toshihiro Hattori failed to meet the muster against Jamaica, and Nakanishi was equally unimpressive against Argentina. Perhaps it is time to call up someone like Gamba's Toru Araiba or Urawa's Tadaaki Hirakawa, even if those players also have a reputation for being a weak link on defence. At least they would provide greater support on the attack, to offset this weakness.

The second challenge for Zico will be to find some strikers who can actually find the net. Japan has always lacked the scoring punch to deal with top opponents, but there is a crop of younger players who just might be capable of addressing this recurring weakness. One hopes that next year, we will see a few new faces in the front line, since the likes of Nakayama, Takahara, Suzuki and Yanagisawa have all had countless opportunities to perform, and always come up a bit short. The final summation on the Argentina match has to be one of mild dissappointment. Japan did indeed play well, but once again they failed to get the result that they needed. The 2-0 score line may have been highly flattering to Argentina (just as last month's 1-1 score line flattered Jamaica), but it is the only element of this match which will be preserved by history. Japan needs to start getting good final results, not just "encouraging performances".