Japan 1 - 1 Jamaica

Date: Oct 16, 2002 Location: National Stadium, Tokyo Japan 1 1 1H 0 0 2H 1 1 Jamaica Shinji Ono (8') Scoring Fuller (79') Akita (69') Cautions Zaidie (38') Fuller (69') Seigo Narazaki, Akira Narahashi, Yutaka Akita, Naoki Matsuda, Toshihiro Hattori, Junichi Inamoto (Koji Nakata 82'), Shinji Ono (Takashi Fukunishi 82'), Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Naohiro Takahara, 13-Atsushi Yanagisawa (Takayuki Suzuki 76'). Aaron Lawrence (Donovan Ricketts 74'), Ian Goodison, Marco McDonald, Claude Davis, 6-Omar Daley (Linval Dixon 61'), Robert Scarlett, Craig Zaidie, Micah Hyde (Jarmaine Johnson 71'), 22-Paul Hall (Fabian Taylor 77'), Andrew Williams (Ricard Fuller 61'), Barry Hayles.

On October 16, 2002, Japan entered a new era in football. Many commentators will no doubt offer a downbeat assessment of this match, based merely on the final score. Japan failed to win a match that they should have won, and on home turf, no less

Forget about that. . . .

The final result doesnt matter one whit. If you havent forgotten in a few weeks, surely a few months will erase any recollection of the final score of this match. What you will remember, along with all other fans of Japanese football, is the day that "the beautiful game" truly arrived in Japan.

Because there is no other description that can do justice to the sort of football that Japan played against Jamaica on Wednesday evening. Oh, it did get a bit ragged in the second half, and by the time Jamaica equalized on a fluke play -- where a well blocked shot fell right to a wide-open striker, and thus set up Jamaica's lone goal -- Japan was starting to lose the script that they had followed in the first 50 or 60 minutes. But what a magnificent hour that was!

Sure. Japan failed to put the ball in the Jamaican net as often as they should have. But to this lover of the beautiful game, it isnt what Japan actually did in this match, but how they did it. Against a very athletic and physically imposing group of Jamaicans, Japan performed a ballet. A masterpiece of creativity and free-spirited ball movement. From the 2 minute, when Ono played a cheeky back heel to Inamoto for a drive over the bar, until the 49 minute when Suzuki's feather-touch lob was driven solidly into the Jamaican keeper's privates by a Hide Nakata volley, Japan put on a demonstration of artistic, ecstatic, truly joyous football!

Japan got its lone goal in the 8 minute, after an aggressive bit of pressure on the Jamaican midfield by Junichi Inamoto and Akira Narahashi delivered a loose ball to Hide Nakata. The Parma midfielder flicked the ball on to Naohiro Takahara, who was already in full stride towards the Jamaican goal. Takahara waited only long enough to freeze the defenders, then spun the ball off to Shinji Ono on the right flank. Ono Foired a perfect shot that curled around the keeper and inside the left post, to put Japan on top 1-0.

There were easily a dozen opportunities to extend the lead. and no doubt some commentators will be focusing on Japan's failure to finish off the opportunities created over the next 45 to 50 minutes. But regardless of whether or not Japan actually scored, the simple fact is that the chances they created in this match were pure poetry. In particular, Ono, Narahashi and Nakamura (in that order) demonstrated the sort of creativity and genius in attack that has been sadly lacking from Japan's game in recent years. Narahashi's overlaps down the right wing repeatedly shredded the Jamaica defence like an Enron financial statement following the Arthur Andersen audit.

Of course, since Japan failed to win, there will have to be some scapegoats. The one player who most clearly failed to make the grade was Toshihiro Hattori, who was repeatedly beaten down the wing on defence, failed to lend any significant support to the offence, and was complicit in Jamaica's equaliser goal. Hide Nakata also had a less-that-stellar performance, missing two wide-open scoring chances and ballooning several crosses that could have produced scoring opportunities. Shunsuke Nakamura and Junichi Inamoto were both a bit too tentative. They had their spectacular moments, but they disappeared from view on important occasions. Of the two forwards, Takayuki Suzuki actually was the more effective of the two. Naohiro Takahara looked slick, at times, but failed to make his presence known up front.

On the other hand, Shinji Ono had a spectacular match, and Akira Narahashi deserved to be named player of the tounament. For the love of God, can someone please remind me why he has been out of the national team for the past four years?!?!?!?! Both Matsuda and Akita had very solid and professional performances in the back line. They will need to learn one another's proclivities and preferences a bit better, but they definitely look like a perfect marriage of brute force and precision technique in the back line (if only Zico can find a left wing to replace the pathetic Hattori).

In summing up, about the only thing that can be said is that Japan's failure to win this match will no doubt obscure what was a truly spectacular display of creative football. A few lucky bounces, or some better finishing by Hide Nakata and Suzuki, and Japan would have cruised to a three or four-goal victory. But the beauty of Japan's attacking moves, especially in the first half, are hard to forget. If this is the first indication of what is to come under Zico Japan, we can look to the future with an abundance of optimism.

Below is the Japan national team roster for the match against Jamaica