National Team Match:
Japan 7 - 0 India

Date: 1 June, 2004 Location: Saitama Stadium, Japan Japan 3 1H 0 4 2H 0 India Kubo (13') Fukunishi (25') Nakamura (29') Suzuki (54') Nakazawa (66') Ogasawara (68') Nakazawa (78') Scoring Cautions Jatin Bisht J.P. Ancheli Bijendra Singh Yoshikatsu Kawaguschi, Keisuke Tsuboi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Mitsuo Ogasawara 63), Yuji Nakazawa, Shinji Ono (Toshiya Fujita 70'), Takashi Fukunishi, Akira Kaji, Shunsuke Nakamura, Alessandro Santos, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Takayuki Suzuki 45), Keiji Tamada Sangram Mugassy, Haripur Mondal, Deepak Mondal, Climax Lawrence (Bijendra Singh 62), Samir Naik, Rennady Singh, Jatin Bisht (Devabharat Roy 45), Shamugam Venkatesh, J.P. Ancheli, Bhaichung Bhutia, Asim Viswas (R.C. Prakash 78)

It has been a while since the Japan national has delivered a drubbing of these proportions to an international opponent, so the sheer scale of this victory is sure to leave smiles on a lot of faces. Some might be disappointed by the fact that Japan did not press to extend their lead after essentially knocking India out in the 68 minute, but India were already throwing themselves around the pitch with reckless abandon, and since the woefully incompetent Chinese referee who was assigned to this match clearly was not going to do anything to stop the dangerous play, it was probably best that Japan spent most of the final 20 minutes just maintaining possession, killing the clock and making sure that everyone was able to go home in one piece.

Perhaps it required the stimulus of a trip to Europe, to play against some true quality opposition, in order to jolt Japan out of the mediocrity that they have demonstrated over the past year. Or perhaps this just reflects a carefully planned build-up by Zico in order to ensure that his team would be peaking just as the Asian Cup kicks off. Whatever the case, even the most surly of Japan NT fans will have a hard time finding any fault with the team's recent string of results. After a very impressive away draw against England, a week ago, Japan came out and put on a football exhibition for their Indian guests, never taking their level of effort beyond cruising speed, yet showing deadly killer instincts when the opportunity presented itself. Japan came within a whisker of taking the lead less than two minutes into the match, on a slightly misdirected header from a corner kick, and from this moment on, they seemed to let all 63,000 in the packed pallisades of Saitama Stadium know that this was going to be a high-scoring contest. It took just 12 minutes for them to finally get the only goal they needed, as Alex Santos lofted a beautiful looping pass from just over the midfield stripe to Tatsuhiko Kubo, waiting just inside the box. Kubo pulled off one of his mind-boggling off-balance, double-clutching full-volley side kicks that sent the ball spinning into the low left corner. The shot was so improbably awkward, yet so uncannily precise, that it may very well give the Indian keeper nightmares for the next decade.

It took about 10 minutes for Japan to double their lead, though not for lack of opportunities. Shinji Ono and Shunsuke Nakamura were both having a fine night, and they delivered a number of lovely balls to the front line, but very "physical" marking by the Indian defence (aided by a referee who seemed to feel that it was his duty in this match to spare the weaker side as much embarassment as possible) broke up the plays before a shot could be taken. But in the 25 minute Nakamura placed a precision pass directly on Kubo's shaven forehead, just to the right of goal. Kubo -- apparently tired of getting shoved off the ball before he could release a shot -- decided to head it down into the path of cutting midfielder Takashi Fukuhishi. Though the last Indian defender threw himself feet first at Fukunishi to try to stop the shot, the Jubilo midfielder managed to direct it on goal, and the ball bounded off the right post and into the net.

The degree of rough play that India was being allowed to get away with was starting to produce frayed tempers, but a few minutes after Fukunishi's goal, they produced a foul that even this referee could not overlook. Shinji Ono fed a ball to Kubo right at the left fringe of the penalty arc, and his defender grabbed him by the arm and upended him with what looked precisely like a judo shoulder throw. The referee blew his whistle and made a signal that judo fans might easily have misinterpreted as an "ip-pon victory". But in fact, he was awarding a free kick to Japan. Nakamura casually sent the ball over the wall and into the top right corner, giving Japan a 3-0 halftime lead.

When Japan came out for the restart, Kubo had retired to the bench, replaced by Takayuki Suzuki. Probably this was intended as a way of saving Kubo's energies for a later date, but it also altered the dynamic of play. After a few Indian defenders tried to lay a body on Suzuki and came out of the clash with dislocated vertebrae, some of the fouling that was in evidence during the first half began to dissipate. Of course, this removed Japan's most dangerous weapon up front, but at this stage, Japan had the matdch well in hand, and the midfield was more than capable of providing all the offence needed. About ten minutes after the break, Nakamura delivered a stunning 50-meter pass from deep in his own end which sent Keiji Tamada on a gallop towards goal. Tamada turned one defender and, since the keeper was well positioned to make a save, apparently decided to play a one-cushion bank shot off Suzuki's shin guards. The ball rocketed off Suzuki's legs and into the low right corner, while the keeper was futilely diving to his left. The scorer initially awarded the goal to Suzuki, but we expect that this will eventually be reversed, since (even though the deflection probably was not deliberate) it was clearly Tamada's goal.

This put Japan in total control, and eased the pressure, which meant that Japan spent the next fifteen minutes or so displaying their pinpoint passing skills rather than trying to put another ball on net. Zico eventually tired of the display, and brought on Mitsuo Ogasawara for defender Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, apparently in an effort to coax a few more goals out of his squad. The result was almost immediate. Three minutes after Ogasawara came on, he won a corner kick which Nakamura placed gently on the bootlaces of Yuji Nakazawa, for an easy stuff-in at the back post. Two mintues later, Ogasawara scored a goal that could easily challenge Kubo's sidewinding volley as the goal of the evening. Akira Kaji took a ball down the right wing, turned towards the box, and when the defenders came up to challenge, dropped a pass to Ogasawara overlapping on the end line. The Antlers playmaker collected the ball and cut back to the middle all in one sweeping balletic motion that faked the Indian keeper right out of his underwear, and left him naked as a newborn baby on the wet Saitama turf. Like Nureyev playing the Nutcracker Prince, Oga danced across the goal mouth and tucked the ball inside the right post, completing India's humiliation.

The remaining 20 minutes were just excess video footage destined fo the cutting floor, as Japan seemed more interested in avoiding India's increasingly desperate tackles than in extending their lead much further. "Bomberhead" Nakazawa added the point to the exclamation mark with a back-door header from a Santos free kick, ten minutes from full time, but by that point, the match was all over except for the post-match celebrations.

All in all, this was one of the best performances Japan has produced against a weak opponent since the pool round of the Asian Cup in Lebanon, four years ago. If this is any indication of what we can expect from the team at the Asian Cup in China, this team could very easily retain their title as the champions of Asia.

Below is the full roster for the match agains India: