Japan 0 - 3 Norway

Date: 14 May, 2002 Location: Ulleval Stadium, Oslo Norway Japan 0 1H 0 0 2H 3 Norway Scoring Berg (72') Rushfeldt (76') Solskjaer (84') Inamoto Kawaguchi Cautions Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Koki Nakata (Toshihiro Hattori 81), Takashi Fukunishi (Kazuyuki Toda 45), Hidetoshi Nakata, Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono, Daisuke Ichikawa (Tomokazu Myojin 45), Takayuki Suzuki (Alex Santos 85), Tatsuhiko Kubo (Atsushi Yanagisawa 46) Myhre; Bergdolmo, Johnsen (Lundekvam 45), Berg, Riise, Iversen (Rushfeldt 73), Andersen, Leonhardsen (Riseth 85), Bakke, Solskjaer, Sorensen (Tessem 45)

Japan had its worst performance in over two years on Tuesday afternoon, as they were crushed by Norway in a two-thirds empty stadium in Oslo. It is hard to know where to begin describing this match. Japan have rarely looked so bad. Their passing was crap, their pressure on the ball was crap, their team play was crap, and their offside trap was claptrap. What is even more disturbing was the fact that Norway didnt even play particularly well. If their opponent had played at peak form, Japan might easily have lost by eight or ten goals.

As has been the case for about the past month, Japan's problems began and ended with the lack of a starting lineup. Here we are, just two weeks before the start of the World Cup, and Japan's starting eleven has never once set foot on the field together at the same time. Mad King Phillippe threw this match away before it even began, when he opened with a starting lineup that had several players who shouldnt even be shining shoes for the Japan national team at this stage of the game. Sure enough, Takashi Fukunishi and Yuji Nakazawa were made to look like foolish schoolboys by skilled strikers such as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jan Derek Sorenson. At the other end of the pitch, Tatsuhiko Kubo played 45 minutes without ever seeming to touch the ball. The pathetic excuse that Troussier still doesnt know which players to name to his team just reiterates the incompetence he has displayed over the past four matches, particularly when it comes to naming a competitive squad.

There really isnt much more to say about the match itself, Japan managed to keep Norway from scoring until midway through the second half, but that was more a measure of Norway's poor finishing than anything else. Shinji Ono had a decent match. Hidetoshi Nakata had smoe positive moments, though he also unleashed some truly dreadful passes. On defence, Koji Nakata seemed to hold his own fairly well, unlike the other two players in the back line. As a reward, Mad Phillippe took him off with ten minutes left to play, and replaced him with Toshihiro Hattori.

If Japan was deliberately trying to lull its World Cup opponents into complacency, the strategy succeeded brilliantly. However, having squandered four opportunities to let Japan's REAL national team work on coordination and team cohesiveness under match situations, we now face a situation in which, two weeks before the World Cup kicks off, Japan's starting eleven have never ONCE played together as a team! It is an open question, therefore, whether the team can perform up to par when the World Cup does begin. One thing is for certain; if Japan plays like they did yesterday in their matches against Belgium, Russia and Tunisia, they can expect to finish their pool with no better results than they achieved in 1998.

Here is Japan's roster for the match against Norway: