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Japan 0 - 1 Turkey

Date: 14 June, 2002 Location: Yokohama Int'l Stadium, Japan Japan 0 0 1H 0 1 2H 0 1 Turkey Scoring Umit Davala (15') Cautions Seigo Narazaki, Naoki Matsuda, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Koji Nakata, Junichi Inamoto (Dasisuke Ichikawa 46) (Hiroaki Morishima 86), Kazuyuki Toda, Hidetoshi Nakata, Shinji Ono, Kazuyuki Myojin , Akinori Nishizawa, Alex Santos (Takayuki Suzuki, 46) Rutsu Recber, Bulent Korkmaz, Fatih Akyel, Alpay Ozalan, Tupay Kerimoglu, Hakan Sukur, Ergun Penbe, Hakan Unsal, Umit Davala, Yildiray Basturk (Ilhan Mansiz 89), Hasan Sas (Tayfur Havutcu 85),

Well, you knew it had to happen. Japan had been playing too smoothly, and enjoying too many breaks. Anyone who knows Phillippe Troussier well enough knows that sooner or later he would pull some idiotic stunt to throw the team off track, and sure enough, he did

On a rain-slicked pitch in Miyagi, Troussier abandoned all the training and preparation of four long years, and threw out a lineup -- a 3-6-1 -- that Japan has never played effectively before. And to make matters worse, he benched both Takayuki Suzuki and Atsushi Yanagisawa, who have been integral to the team's performance in this world cup, and started the incredibly untalented Akihiro Nishizawa, and the talented but not particularly team-oriented Alex Santos.

The result was never in doubt. This writer knew from the moment Japan set foot on the pitch that the result was a foregone conclusion. Despite constant pressure on the Turkish defense, the lack of a truly disruptive force up front ensured that Turkey would always be able to recover from the Japanese attacks in time. Turkey were fortunate in scoring from a corner kick early in the first half, but Troussier had basically set the table for them, and all they had to do was finish the meal

As the second half began, Troussier took a bad situation and made it worse, by pulling the most effective player of the entire tournament, Junichi Inamoto, and replacing him with Daisuke Ichikawa, a player who, despite his assist in the Tunisia match, does not have the poise or the ball skills to provide any sort of pressure against a team like Turkey. Worse yet, he left the totally ineffective Nishizawa in for the full 90 minutes

Well. this was a poor way to end what was otherwise a very exciting World Cup. The only positive note that can be drawn from this pitiful performance is the fact that Phillippe Troussier has coached his last match. For all the positive things he has done for the team over the past four years, his complete lack of strategic sense and horrendous player selection were bound to be a part of his final legacy.

Good riddance, Mad Phillippe. We wont miss you.