Japan's National Team:
Japan 2 - 0 Poland

Date: April 26, 2002 Location: Lodz Widzew Stadium, Poland Japan 2 2 1H 0 0 2H 0 0 Poland H. Nakata (11') Takahara (42') Scoring Cautions Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Naoki Masuda, Koji Nakata, Kazuyuki Toda (Tomokazu Myojin 79), Junichi Inamoto (Takashi Fukunishi 54), Shinji Ono, Hidetoshi Nakata, Daisuke Ichikawa (Yasuhiro Hato 71), Takayuki Suzuki, Naohiro Takahara (Tatsuhiko Kubo 54) Jerzy Dudek (Radoslaw Majdan 46), Tomasz Waldoch (Jacek Bak 46), Tomasz Hajto, Piotr Swierczewski (Bartosz Karwan 46), Tomasz Klos (Jacek Krzynowek 46), Michal Zewlakow, Marek Kozminski, Radoslaw Kaluzny (Arkadiusz Bak 79), Emmanuel Olisadebe (Marcin Zewlakow 46), Pawel Kryszalowicz, Tomasz Iwan .

Though Phillippe Troussier said before the match that he would be playing the match "to get 1 point as the away team" (ie. he was hoping for a draw), Japan surprised both themselves and the very vocal crowd at Wodja stadium by dominating their opponent from start to finish. Though Troussier was suitably drole in his postmatch comments, he certainly has to be pleased with his team's performance in the first turnout by anything approaching his first-string lineup since the Confederations' Cup, last summer.

Japan started out a bit tentatively, and for the first five minutes there was no indication that Poland would spend the majority of this match backpedaling. Poland got off the first shot of the match when Emmanuel Olisadebe angled into the box and fired off a quick shot that flew wide to the left of goal. Olisadebe was widely touted before the match as Poland's "big gun", but his boots were largely silent in this match. Though the naturalized Pole was given almost no room to maneuver over the course of the match by defenders Tsuneyoshi Miyamoto, Naoki Masuda and Koji Nakata, one could still see what makes him so dangerous. He has the ability to pull the trigger at any instant, and managed to get off one or two shots on goal even when he seemed to be blanketed by his defender.

Japan began to get into their rhythm after the first five minutes of the match, with the midfield exchanging some nice short passes. Japan's three Europe-based midfielders -- Parma's Hidetoshi Nakata, Feyenoord's Shinji Ono and Junichi Inamoto of Arsenal -- all looked smooth and match-fit. They showed no sign of difficulty integrating themselves with teammates, and this was at least partly responsible for the fine performance over the course of the afternoon.

Surprisingly, the player who made the most impressive showing in this match was Shimizu S-Pulse midfielder Daisuke Ichikawa. Though he must have raised a French eyebrow or two in the early stages of the match, throwing four consecutive inbounds passes straight to Polish players, after striker Takayuki Suzuki took over the throw-in duties on the right sideline (about 15 minutes into the match), Ichikawa turned in a dazzling performance. Japan got on the board for the first time in the 10 minute, on a play which was typical of Ichikawa's performance. After Japan broke up a Polish attackthrough the middle, the ball was cleared to Hide Nakata at midfield. The name recognition that the Parma midfielder enjoys prompted Poland's left back to cheat towards him, and when he did, Nakata lobbed a ball down the sidelines that Ichikawa carried nearly to the end line, rounding his man and cutting for the box. Spotting Suzuki at the far post, Ichikawa fired a low, hard cross that appeared to be on target. One of Poland's defenders managed to stick out a boot and block the ball's flight, but to his dismay, the deflection fell right at the feet of Nakata, at the edge of the box. With no defender in shouting distance, Nakata had plenty of time to unleash a low line drive inside the right post, and put Japan on top 1-0.

Japan braced itself for the expected Polish counterattack, but whether the hosts were having a bad day or Japan's defence was just too efficient, Poland was not able to generate any real danger over the subsequent few minutes. On the contrary, Japan nearly doubled their lead on a corner kick from the right corner, which Ono met directly in front of goal. Liverpool's Jerzy Dudek made a brilliant diving save to deny the shot, displaying the fine reflexes which would bail out Poland on several occasions in this match. But even his strong performance was not enough to deny Japan a second goal in the 42 minute. Once again, it was Ichikawa who set up the strike, with another well-timed break down the right wing. A pass from Kazuyuki Toda sent him away to the races, and as he drew level with the top of the box, he looped a high ball for striker Naohiro Takahara, who was racing for the far post with a defender in pursuit. As most prematch reports indicated, the field was in horrible condition, and Takahara skidded to the ground on a patch of muddy ice just as the ball arrived. Nevertheless, he managed to knock the ball down as he clumsily slid into the box, and his defender went sprawling on the same muddy patch. Before Dudek could get off his line, Takahara leapt to his feet, collected the ball and fired a shot over the Polish keeper's head and into the top of the net.

Japan were now in full stride, and Poland clearly had no answer. In fact, Japan should have gone into the locker room at half time with a 3-0 advantage, as Inamoto made a beautiful steal and outlet pass to send Hide Nakata away to the races in the 44 minute. However, Nakata was a bit too cheeky with the ball after faking Dudek to the ground, and the nimble keeper just barely managed to snatch the ball away before Nakata could release his shot.

After a fairly smooth and relatively trouble-free first half, the second act was very ugly indeed. As Poland came out of the locker room, it was quickly apparent that they had no clue about how to break down Japan's stalwart defence, but they nonetheless seemed determined to make Japan pay dearly for their victory, in bruises and abrasions. The German referee, Mr. Albrecht, kept his whistle at the ready, but he seemed determined not to hand out any cards in this match, even though the tackles and body-blows dished out by the Polish side refuted any description of this match as a "friendly" international. Once the nature of Poland's strategy was apparent, though, Japan seemed content to settle back and ensure that their opponent had no scoring chances whatever. In this respect, Poland's "strategy" was completely misplaced, as the Japanese players refused to be intimidated by the physical play, and Mr. Albrecht, despite keeping his yellow card in storage for the full 90 minutes, was clearly not willing to give Poland any benefit of the doubt on the offensive end, considering their thuggish tactics on defence.

Japan's back line was fairly solid throughout the match, but much of the credit for the solid performance in this match must go to the twin volantes, Inamoto and Toda, as well as to Shinji Ono, who was not particularly visible on offense in this match, but did a very impressive job of shadowing Poland's midfielders and preventing any counterattacks. Kudos also go to Hide Nakata, who worked harder and contributed a more impressive team effort than he has shown in any match since . . . . well, possibly since the World Cup campaign of 1998. He was constantly rushing back to cover up the loose ends on defence, and despite his blunder in failing to convert what should have been Japan's third goal, he deserves a near-perfect mark for his effort. In the back line, "the other Nakata", Koji Nakata, was the most impressive of the three deep defenders, not only shutting Olisadebe down completely, but also making some exciting overlap runs down the left sideline in the second half.

After about 15 minutes of the second half, Troussier threw in several substitutes who seemed designed to both withstand the physical play of the Polish side, and to dish out some punishment in return. Takashi Fukunishi was not particularly impressive as a replacement for Inamoto, but Tomokazu Myojin was rock-solid at the other volante position, and although Tatsuhiko Kubo didnt manage to get off any shots, he did join Suzuki in creating some mayhem up front. After an exciting first half, the trench warfare of the final period was something of a letdown, but Japan can go away feeling very pleased with themselves, having outplayed their opponent in every aspect of this contest.

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