|
|
|  |
Yet again, Phillippe Troussier was playing games with his players, the fans, and the Japanese football establishment. After two weak results from experimental lineups, hopes were high that he would finally field a team that at least resembles the group he intends to use in the World Cup. Instead, he fielded the low end of his bench, and to compound the error, he failed to take corrective actions even after Japan conceded three goals in the first half. Japan's reserves played reasonably well, controlliong posession and offensive initiative for all but a few brief spells, and they were put in a hole by some horrendous officiating. Yet viewers watching the performance were left with the uncomfortable feeling that Japan still probably deserved to lose this contest.
The one positive note was the performance of Shunsuke Nakamura, who scored two goals, one on a free kick just outside the box, and the second on an improbable "banana-curve" corner kick that he must have pulled out of his old junior high school playbook. Apart from Nakamura, and some aggressive, physical, but ultimately ineffectual post plays by Takayuki Suzuki, Japan's reserve team had a very poor showing. Honduras employed the one tactic that few teams have tried to use against Japan recently, but which has repeatedly proven to be the most successful -- tough physical aggression.
Honduras got on the scoreboard early, on a corner kick from the left side that was headed in by Jose Pineda, who found a surprising amount of open space in the center of the box. Although this particular score could be put down as just "one of those things", which sometimes happen in the game of football, the corner kick was set up by the type of play that would plague Japan for much of the match. After a short clearance by the defence, Shunsuke Nakamura was muscled off the ball at the edge of his own penalty area. Though the Honduras player might well have been called for a foul, it was Nakamura who got the foul call as he tried to retaliate. Honduras earned its scoring corner kick after the initial free kick was headed over the end line by a defender.
Throughout the match, the tough physical play by Honduras, and the reluctance of the officiating team to call anything that would give Japan an advantage, were dominant themes. This was a troubling sight, since Honduras was the first team to actually try to "rough up" Japan since the French mopped the field with the Japanese national team in early 2001. It is true that Honduras were facing a makeshift lineup, which probably accentuated the team's tendency to wilt under physical pressure. Only striker Takayuki Suzuki and, to a lesser extent, Junichi Inamoto, seemed capable of holding their own against the physical play of Honduras. It is also true that a stricter officiating team would have allowed Japan to neutralize this advantage much earlier. However, the fact remains that Honduras was able to take the home team out of its game through the use of aggressive physical play. If the teams in Japan's group were watching this performance, as they surely were, they are certain to see this as a tactic worth trying in the World Cup.
The one positive result to emerge from this match was that Shunsuke Nakamura finally found his mark on set plays. Nakamura might have been a bit of a defensive liability on the left flank, and he had trouble setting up opportunities from the run of play (in part, due to the tough checking he faced), but he more than made up for it with his accuracy from set plays. In this sense, he seems to have re-established his old reputation as Japan's best left-footed free kick specialist.
Given the extent of body contact dished out by the Honduran midfield and defence, it was a matter of course that even a generous officiating team would have to penalize them with a certain number of free kicks. The saving point for Japan was that Nakamura made Honduras pay when the opportunities came. About ten minutes after the first Honduras goal, Japan got a free kick when Yasuhiro Hato was chopped down at the right top corner of the box -- one of Nakamura's favourite free kick locations. His kick was a bit close to the keeper, but it was hit with authority, and curved sharply over the wall, surprising the keeper and slipping through his hands and into the net.
But Japan was given no time to celebrate. Just a minute later, Honduras were back in front. This goal was the most controversial of the match, and once again it was created by a combination of physical play by Honduras and generous officiating. As Japan began working the ball out of their own end, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto took a pass with his back to a Honduran defender. As he tried to play it , he was clearly pulled off the ball -- and indeed, off his feet -- by a powerful tug over the shoulder. But the official ignored the foul and let play continue. The same Honduran player collected the loose ball, and suddenly Japan was in retreat with only two defenders back against four Honduras attackers. The ball went low into the right corner of the box, and as one of Japan's last two defenders rushed out to cover, the ball was crossed in to a wide-open Carlos Pavon, for an easy header into the back of the net. Japan protested furiously, as the foul on Miyamoto was unmistakeable, and several Japanese players claimed they had seen the sideline official raise his flag. But the protest fell on deaf ears, and Honduras had the lead once more.
With five minutes to go in the half, Japan got the score level again, this time on Nakamura's remarkable banana kick from the right corner spot. But as the first half went into injury time, Honduras took the lead once more. The final goal of the half was much like the second, although this time there was no foul play involved. After a steal at midfield, Honduras attacked on the counter against a depleted back line, sent the ball into the corner and then crossed in with good precision for an open finish in front of goal.
Having sat on his posterior for the entire 45 minutes of the first half, without making a move to bolster his lineup, Troussier finally took some measures to respond to the Honduran tactics at half time. He took off the ineffective Yasuhiro Hato and replaced him with Daisuke Ichikawa on the right wing, and he brought in Alex Santos to offer a bit more physical stamina and speed on the left. However, instead of having Santos replace Takashi Fukunishi, who has shown time and time again that he is not good enough to play at this level, he pulled Morishima, who also was a bit off his game, but who certainly gave Japan more on offence than did Fukunishi. When he finally did replace one of his volantes, later in the second half, it was not FUkunishi who went to the bench, but Inamoto, who was one of the few players on the Japan team who seemed able to withstand the physical play of Honduras in the first half.
Nevertheless, the changes seemed to be effective. Japan controlled the initiative almost completely in the second half. Honduras retreated into a tough defensive shell, and had few opportunities at all in the second stanza. But their physical checking and good defensive coverage prevented Japan from creating much in the way of scoring opportunities. Troussier made the defending task easier for Honduras by sticking with Akinori Nishizawa for the entire 90 minutes, despite the fact that he was missing in action for almost the entire match. When he finally did bring in Tatsuhiko Kubo to reinforce the front line, he pulled Suzuki, who was Japan's only real threat up front for the entire match.
However, the physical play of Honduras finally backfired in the 76 minute, when a Honduran defender shoved Nakamura to the ground as he awaited a high ball into the box. The two-handed shove was a bit too obvious for the referee to overlook, and he awarded a penalty kick which Alex Santos converted, to bring Japan back level with their opponents. Honduras did a masterful job of wasting time for the final 15 minutes, even though Japan was now clearly in command of the initiative, and this allowed them to emerge with a draw. Although Japan dominated the second half, and managed to finish on level terms, one cannot feel good at all with the result. Though Troussier tried to put on a brave face in the postmatch interview, Japan showed a glaring weakness in their response to physical pressure, and Troussier made the situation much worse by insisiting on "experimental lineups" and "final tests" for his borderline players. If Troussier fails to field Japan's best 11 in the next exhibition match, against Real Madrid on May 7, the result is likely to be a defeat of epic proportions. The last thing that a young and emotionally unstable team needs is to lose by 8 or 10 goals on the eve of the World Cup. The time for experimenting ended long ago, yet Troussier persists in his "folie". Enough is enough!
National Team
Overseas Players
Japan 3 - 3 Honduras 