National Team Match:
Japan 1 - 0 Oman

Date: 18 Feb, 2004 Location: Saitama Stadium Japan 1 0 1H 0 1 2H 0 0 Oman Kubo (89') Scoring Cautions Seigo Narazaki, Nobuhisa Yamada, Keisuke Tsuboi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Alessandro Santos, Yasuhito Endo (Mitsuo Ogasawara 64), Junichi Inamoto, Shunsuke Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nakata, Atsushi Yanagisawa (Tatsuhiko Kubo 45), Naohiro Takahara (Takayuki Suzuki 82) Ali Al-Habsi, Saeed Ashur, Halifa Ali, Mohammed Rabiah, Hasem Al-Ghalani, Hammadi Hubail, Ahmed Hathid, Bashir, Bader Al-Mahemani, Yusuf Shahban, Imad Al-Hosni

Its always nice to be lucky. And no doubt, Zico Japan are not going to complain about getting a lucky bounce, particularly in a match where all of the other bounces seemed to be going against them. However, the national team came within a whisker of being held to a draw, at home, against Oman -- the only real competition in their qualification group. In the world of international football, three points is stilll three points. But surely the tabloid press is going to be doing an intensive post-mortem of this match, which showed every indication of going the wrong way.

Lets not get overly rhetorical about the situation, Japan far outplayed their opponent, and never permitted anything that even resembled a dangerous shot on goal. Meanwhile, despite a tremendous amount of poor pass selection and general laziness through the first 45 minutes, they produced several good scoring opportunities. The problem, as usual, was that nobody had the slightest clue about how to put the ball in the net. As a result, a young and very inspired Oman team were given repeated injections of confidence, ensuring that they would battle on to the very end, with every ounce of energy they had, wen just one simple finish would have broken their backs and turned the contest into a stroll in the park.

The goat of this contest has to be Shunsuke Nakamura, who sent a penalty kick straight at the keeper (heck *I* could have stopped that shot!), blasted a wide-open shot from two meters away over the crossbar, and then pulled another completely unchallenged shot six meters wide of the right post.. Nakamura may have some attractive technique, and Im sure he can make a contribution to the national team over the course of the qualification process. But in matches like this one, where the most valuable commodities are energy, intensity, toughness and "golden marbles", Nakamura clearly doesnt have the testicular fortitude that is required.

Unfortunately, Zico is the sort of coach who likes to play his high cards, regardless of the situation. And so he stuck with Nakamura for 90 minutes when the situation clearly called for a player like Toshiya Fujita, or Atsuhiro Miura. Oman, it must be said, had Japan figired out to perfection. They gambled that fierce physical pressure and untiring movement to the ball would cause Japan to rush their passes, shy away from low, hard tackles and start to get flustered if they failed to produce an early goal. That was exactly what happened, and the most disturbing point was that Zico failed to respond effectively.

Then again, he did make a few worthwhile substitutions. At half time, Zico brought in Tatsuhiko Kubo for Atsushi Yanagisawa, another technically sparkling player who actually made a more effective contribution in the first half than strike partner Naohiro Takahara, but a player who also tends to shy away from challenges and lose his rhythm when roughed up by the opposition. Kubo, by contrast, is a totally unskilled hack, who nevertheless manages to achieve success through his intensity, aggressiveness, and the sheer abandon of his play.

Japan came out with a very good performance in the first 20 minutes or so of the match. The build-up was very precise, and despite excellent movement to the ball by Oman's defence, they were beginning to create cracks in the defence. Then, in the 30 minute, came the play that would define the rest of the match. Hide Nakata fed a pass to Takahara as he cut for the box, and as the defender stepped into his path, Takahara fell to the turf in the penalty area. Most referees would have waved play on, and based on his performance over the other 89 minutes of the match, this referee should have done so as well. But instead, he awarded a yellow card to the defender, and gave Japan a shot from the penalty spot.

But Nakamura's PK attempt was weak, almost directly in the middle of the goal, and at a perfect height for the keeper to block. The Omani goalkeeper proved throughout the contest that he is a quality player, and he certainly was not about to be beaten by such a weak PK attempt. Nakamura's shot was easily batted away, and Japan's most valuable opportunity of the first half went by the boards. Needless to say, after awarding Japan a PK and having them miss it, the referee was not about to give the home team any more breaks. This was good news for Oman, who were able to apply the physical pressure without fear of picking up cheap fouls.

The second half was not much better than the final ten minutes of the first. Japan was impatient, unsettled, and not physically agressive enough to face down the Omani challenges. As time wore on, the match became more and more ragged, with Japan resorting to long, aimless balls into the front line. Zico did alleviate one weak p[oint though, ten minutes or so into the second stanza, when he pulled Yasuhito Endo and replaced him with Mituso Ogasawara. Endo also had a poor match, perhaps not as bad as Nakamura but nevertheless a black mark on his record in terms of his prospects for future playing time. With Ogasawara in the game, Japan now had three players (Nakamura, Nakata and Oga) who could both hold the ball against pressure and orchestrate offence.

But by this time, Oman was riding a wave of enthusiasm and adrenaline which seemed to make every ball bounce their way. Japan started to produce a larger number of chances, but even the most clear-cut opportunities either were deflected by a defender or snatched by the goalkeeper. As time ran down, things were looking very bleak indeed for the Japan eleven.

But then, just as all hope seemed to be lost, the tide of fortune turned, and Japan received a stroke of pure, unadulterated, blind deaf and dumb luck. With two mintues gone in injury time. A high ball into the box was cleared to Ogasawara, who lobbed a hopeful ball towards Kubo, on the left flank. A defender dashed forward and managed to head the ball clear, but his clearance shot straight into Nakamura's kneecap, and fell at the feet of Kubo, with more green pasture around him than an angry bull at feeding time. Kubo took one step forward and side-footed the ball into the low right corner, giving Japan a last-second victory, and what may very well be the crucial three points of this World Cup qualification round.

Below is the full roster for Japan's match against Oman: