Japan National Team: International Friendly

Japan 1 - 1 Sweden

Date: 25 May, 2002 Location: National Stadium, Tokyo Japan 1 0 1H 1 1 2H 0 1 Sweden Own Goal (63') Scoring Allback (20') Morioka Santos K.Nakata Cautions Ibrahimovic Lucic Seigo Narazaki, Naoki Matsuda (Tsuneyasu Miyamoto 45), Ryuzo Morioka (Yutaka Akita 74), Koji Nakata; Kazuyuki Toda (Daisuke Ichikawa 87), Junichi Inamoto (Takashi Fukunishi 68); Shinji Ono (Alex Santos 55), Hiroaki Morishima (Takayuki Suzuki 45), Toshihiro Hattori (Tomokazu Myojin 45); Hidetoshi Nakata (Mitsuo Ogasawara 61), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Masashi Nakayama 66) Hedman; Mjallaby (Jakobsson 76), Andersson, Lucic, Mellberg; M. Svensson (Alexandersson 16), A. Svensson, Ljungberg (A. Andersson73), Linderoth; Larsson, Allback (Ibrahimovic 65)

Despite the fact that they failed to win this match, Japan can be quite satisfied withe their performance against Sweden. They held the vast advantage in possession, and moved the ball well, creating a number of excellent scoring opportunities agains a very solid and well-drilled defence. Though both of the goals in this match were slightly flukish, the key point in a warm-up friendly of this sort is to make sure that the team is running on all cylinders, and that the weapons you intend to use all are in working order. Sweden can probably say that their team passed that test, but Japan looked the better of the two teams over 90 minutes.

The most important issue for fans, going into the match, was whether or not Troussier would quit playing games and get down to business. His starting lineup answered in the affirmative. Although it was a bit unusual, it seemed to be well designed with the Swedish team in mind, and did not involve any real "experiments". Japan played a 3-6-1, with Yanagisawa up front and Morishima a step behind him and Hide Nakata at the shireito spot. This combination would prove very effective at controlling the ball in midfield with crisp, one-touch passes. Although inspired defending by Sweden, and a few unlucky breaks prevented them from scoring, the creative threesome came within a whisker of putting a player through untouched on net at least five or six times in the first half.

Shinji Ono played on the right wing, and did a very solid job, though he looked a bit more comfortable early in the second half, when moved back to his more natural position, on the left. Toshihiro Hattori played the left wing, and adopted primarily a defensive posture. One wonders if the inclusion of Alex, who played on the left during much of the second half, might have provided the necessary extra milimeter of space to crack the Swedish defence. The answer to that guestion will have to wait, but at least we know that an Ono-Hattori combination provides solid support on both offense and defence. The starting twin volante pair was Toda and Inamoto (no surprise there). Both had very good games, with Toda playing mainly as an enforcer and ball-chaser on devence and Inamoto looking for opportunities to slip forward into attack. The back three of Matsuda, Morioka and Nakata Koji were as solid as a rock, with the exception of one counter by Sweden early in the first half, which can be put down primarily to perfect timing between the two strikers, and a healty measure of luck. Otherwise, Sweden had few scoring opportunities to speak of until midway through the second half, when both benches began to empty.

Japan started out with a great deal of pressure, but with more poise and patience than has been apparent in recent matches. Sweden played a typical "away game" strategy, sagging back on defence and looking for chances to snatch the ball at midfield and launch a quick counter. Partly for this reason, and partly because of superb pressure on the ball by Morishima, Nakata, Ono and Yanagisawa, Japan dominated posession for the first fifteen minutes. However, Sweden did a very good job of cutting off the angles, and despite several close calls, Japan's attempts to slip the ball through the back line were mainly futile. Nevertheless, they did get one or two decent shots off, though none that really stretched the keeper.

Then, completely against the run of play, Sweden got a nice counterattack following a steal at midfield. The break was two on two, and Matsuda seemed to have the ball fairly well defended as Larsson drippled on goal. But as the break approached the box, Larsson released a quick pass that was fortunately timed, sneaking betwen Matsuda's legs just as he took a stride forward to cut off the inside move. Koji Nakata also had Markus Allback reasonably well guarded, but Allback saw the pass coming first, and with a lunge, he managed to get a toe to the ball and push it past the outrushing Narazaki. Despite the disappointment, Japan couldnt feel too bad about going the goal, as it had required a near-perfect play. Nevertheless, with their first shot of the match, Sweden were up 1-0.

The remainder of the first half was virtually identical to the first 15 mintues. Japan had a majority of posession, but had a hard time cracking the dogged Swedish defence. Sweden hung back and looked for the counterattack, but the few opportunities they did manage to create were usually shut down before they could get off a shot.

When Japan came out for the second half, they reverted to a more traditional lineup, with Suzuki coming in for Morishima and taking a full striker position, and Myojin replacing Hattori, allowing Ono to move from right wing to left wing. This set looked more dangerous than the first-half lineup, though one can see how the 3-6-1 might be a good option against certain types of teams. Against Sweden, however, the presence of the taller and more physical Suzuki, rather than the diminutive Morishima, helped to counter the power and height advantages that had allowed Sweden to rebuff Japan's attacks in the first 45 minutes. Ono looked a bit more comfortable on the left side, and although Myojin never got forward into attack, Inamoto compensated for this by taking more chances to dart forward out of midfield. The first 15 mintues of the second half were all Japan. I have yet to see a time of posession breakdown, but I would guess that Japan held the ball for about 70-75% of the time during the 45-60 minute period. At the 60 minute mark, Ono came out and Alex took his place on the right wing. The additional pace down the flank had an effect almost immediately. On only about the second or third time he touched the ball, Alex was sent free down the wing, and placed a perfect cross in front of net, with Nakata and Yanagisawa cutting for goal. What transpired would go down as an own goal, but it is hard to blame Johan Mjallby for knocking the ball into his own net. The keeper was frozen on his line, and the Swedish defender had Nakata on his left shoulder and Yanagisawa on his right. as the ball curled towards them. Nakata failed to meet the header by milimeters, leaving Mjallby with about 1/8 of a second to decide whether to let the ball bounce -- in which case there was a strong possibility that Yanagisawa would stuff it into the far corner -- or try to trap it himself. He opted to play the ball, but couldnt stop its momentum, and it squirted into the goal

After Japan's equalizer, both benches emptied. Even veterans "Gon" Nakayama and Yutaka Akita got a fair spell of playing time. This period of the match was also encouraging. Of course, Sweden were also into their second string, but Japan looked just as solid -- and more importantly, just as hungry --as they had when the starting teams were on the pitch. During the late stages of the match, two players provided convincing performances. Mitsuo Ogasawara, who replaced Hide Nakata, had some fine feeds out of midfield (both to Alex and to Daisuke Ichikawa, a late replacement at right wing). Meanwhile, Takayuki Suzuki still hasnt managed to unleash a convincing-looking shot, but he looks more and more comfortable every time he takes the pitch, both in feeding his strike partners, and in holding the ball on the post play. against the challenges of two and even three defenders.

Both teams had opportunities as the clock wound down, but all in all, Japan looked more likely to score than Sweden. Over the course of 90 minutes, Sweden had only about three or four real scoring chances, though it must be said, they make their opportunities count much better than Japan did. Japan had far more build-up, and even more shots and goal opportunities, but the last pass or the quick shot on net were just a shade out of reach. Still, considering that this is the first time Japan's first string have set foot on the pitch together in roughly a year, the result was satisfactory.

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