National Team Match:
Japan 1 - 0 Oman

Date: 20 July, 2004 Location: Chongqing Stadium, China Japan 1 1 1H 0 0 2H 0 0 Oman Nakamura (34') Scoring Alex Santos Makoto Tanaka Cautions Saeed Ashoun Yoshikatsu Kawaguschi, Makoto Tanaka, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Yasuhito Endo, Takashi Fukunishi, Akira Kaji, Shunsuke Nakamura, Alessandro Santos, Takayuki Suzuki (Norihiro Nishi 86), Keiji Tamada (Masashi Motoyama 70) Ali Al-Habsi, Mohammed Rabis, Saeed Ashoun, Hassan Yousef, Khalifa Ayil, Feuzi Basheer, Ahmad Al-Mahariji (Hamdi Hubais 64), Ahmed Hadid Mohammed Hamed 74), Baadur Mubarak (Ayirnan Sunoor 20), Yousef Shaiabari, Imad Ali

Japan entered the Asia Cup with a squad that is clearly understrength, and not in particularly good playing condition. While this leaves Zico with a convenient excuse, should Japan fail to perform effectively, fans will no doubt feel a bit unhappy if the team not only fails to bring their top players, but also fails to perform up to the capabilities of the players that ARE available. In their opening match agains Oman, Japan forrtunately managed to claim a win. But unfortunately, they failed to acquit themselves with any distinction whatsoever. The conditions that they face in China -- 37-degree temperatures with 60% humidity at kickoff time -- are clearly a factor in the less-than-inspired play that the team exhibited. But even taking sall the excuses into account, we cannot shake the impression that Japan's players were dogging it. In short, another lazy-ass performance like this one, and the team may as well pack their backs for the flight home. Other countries are clearly fired up, and will spare no effort to try to claim a win, if only to have bragging rights over Japan for the next four years.

There are plenty of things that a fan can point to as reasons for dissatisfaction. For one thing, even with the players he has available, Zico does not seem to be starting his best eleven. Pardon our blatant favouritism, but there is simply no justification whatsoever for believing that Makoto "Cheap-Shot" Tanaka is even in the same league as someone like Naoki Matsuda, who spent all of this match on the bench. As for Takashi Fukunishi, who failed to make a single meaningful play over the entire 90 minutes against Oman (indeed, if he even touched the ball, it must have been while we were taking a restroom break), who in their right mind could even compare his abilities to those of unused reserves such as Koji Nakata, Toshiya Fujita, or Mitsuo Ogasawara. These two players, as well as "so-called" strikers Takayuki Suzuki and Keiji Tamada, seemed too toporous to even bother chasing the ball unless it landed right at their feet. Surely, Japan looked to be a class above Oman in terms of sheer talent. But sheer talent does not necessarily win football matches. Oman very nearly managed an upset through far superior hustle and intensity. In fact, they were very unlucky mnot to claim at least one point from this contest.

Japan was saved by Shunsuke Nakamura, who may not have had a fantastic outing, but did put in enough effort to produce the lone goal of the contest. The goal came in the 34 minute, after Japan had spent the preceding 20 minutes backpedaling against a ferocious Oman attack. Nakamura was fouled on a counterattacking move, and quickly put the ball back in play with a lob for Yasuhito Endo, on the left side of the box. Endo dropped the ball to Tamada who nearly wasted the opportunity with a weak shot from a poor angle. But the ball was mis-hit by the Oman defence, and fell to Nakamura right at the edge of the box. With a sudden burst of speed he dashed into the area, turned a defender and then sent a spinning shot with the outside of his left foot into the low right corner.

Thereafter, Japan seemed content to just kill time and preserve their 1-0 lead. Some may view this as "payback" to Oman, who spent 89 minutes of their last contest against Japan stalling play and trying to maintain a scoreless draw. However, it certainly was not a pretty sight. In fact, it very nearly backfired, as Oman could have equalised on two or three occasions, if their finishing had been just a bit better.

When one considers how many of Japan's top players are out of action for this tournament, nobody is going to get too upset over the fact that Japan claimed three points in their opening match by "winning ugly". Be that as it may, if the team does not step its effort up a notch, they probably will not be so lucky against Thailand and Iran. Without a far more intense effort (as well as some better player selection), Japan could easily find themselves headed for home even before the knockout round.

Below is the full roster for the match agains Oman: