National Team Match:
Japan 1 - 0 Serbia & Montenegro

Date: 13 July, 2004 Location: Yokohama Int'l Stadium Japan 1 0 1H 0 1 2H 0 0 Serbia Endo (49') Scoring Cautions Sasha Ilic Sebo Milosevic Dushan Petkovic Yoshikatsu Kawaguschi, Makoto Tanaka, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Yasuhito Endo, Takashi Fukunishi, Akira Kaji, Shunsuke Nakamura, Alessandro Santos, Takayuki Suzuki, Keiji Tamada (Atsushi Yanagisawa 78) Dragoslaf Ievic, Milan Tudic, Dushan Petkovic, Draagan Sharats, Georghe Jokic, Dragan Mulatinovic, Sasha Ilic, Aleksandr Pandic, Milos Maric, Sebo Milosevic, Danko Lazovic

For the second match in a row, Japan managed a relatively comfortable win while leaving viewers in doubt about whether or not they will be a competitive side at the Asian Cup. Certainly, we already knew that Japan would be fielding a depleted squad in China. A long list of key players are already out of the picture, including Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono, Naohiro Takahara, Tatsuhiko Kubo and Hidetoshi Nakata. Following a hamstring injury in the match against Slovakia, Keisuke Tsuboi has just been added to the list. But as the Asian Cup kickoff approaches, the biggest concern for those watching the preparations is whether or not the best players who ARE in the squad will even see the pitch. Zico seems to either want to give his second string a chance to see action, or else is too blinkered to recognise who his best eleven players are.

In the match against Slovakia, we described the lineup as Japan's "second string" roster, and interestingly enough, many other commentators felt the same way. Yet despite a very close and competitive match, Zico stuck with them to almost the very end. Since he has not been one to demonstrate a great deal of subtlety in the past, we certainly have to wonder if Zico really does intend to start players like Takayuki Suzuki, Keiji Tamada, Akira Kaji and Takashi Fukunishi while a host of clearly superior options are available on the bench. The performance of the starters once again left a great deal to be desired, and though not as depressing as the first 45 minutes against Slovakia, Japan certainly did not play inspiring football. Even playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura seemed out of sorts, squandering chances and never moving beyond second gear.

Even so, Japan were very unlucky not to take a lead in at half time. Serbia & Montenegro made occasional counterattacks that pressed the defence, but the back three was equal to the task, even with Makoto Tanaka bumblingabout in place of Tsuboi. Yuki Nakazawa has emerged as one of Japan's most dominant defenders, and when Tsuboi returns to health, the back line will definitely be a team strength. Unfortunately, the front line is not improving apace. Takayuki Suzuki showed excellent power and durability in the high post, surviving a barrage of fouls and brutal challenges while providing good service to his teammates. Unfortunately, his goal scoring still leaves much to be desired, and partner Keiji Tamada was no better, squandering three excellent opportunities over the first 20 minutes. Once again, the team looked most dangerous late in the second half, when Tamada was replaced by Atsushi Yanagisawa, who immediately sent two teammates away on breaks that were only broken up by deliberate fouls from the Serbian defenders. Unfortunately, by the time he reached the pitch, his teammates were all too exhausted to keep up with his passes and cuts (as were the opposing defenders), so it is a bit difficult to judge how much better he was than Tamada. But even a conservative appraisal suggests that either Yanagisawa or Masashi Motoyama should be starting in place of Tamada, who has done absolutely nothing for the NT since scoring a goal in his first-ever cap.

Shortly after the break, Japan finally capitalised on their good midfield buildup. Takashi Fukuhishi sent a hard roller towards Suzuki in the high post, but Suzuki saw Yasuhito Endo take off on an overlapping run just as the pass was released, and instead of collecting it himself, he gave it the merest of nudges to ensure it cleared the last defender and let it roll through. Endo was in full sprint as the ball came through, so the defence was left spinning in the wind as the midfielder dashed away on net. He made a good cutback to beat the ourtrushing keeper, then tucked the ball into the empty net to give Japan the lead.

Needing only a draw to claim the Kirin Cup trophy, Japan spent the remainder of the match playing a cautious defensive stall, and forcing the opponent to expend more energy than they did. Even so, when Japan did counterattack, it often produced dangerous chances. The Serbian back line depemnded on blatant professional fouling to stop these attacks, and if the referee had been awarding yellow cards for every one of these offences, they might easily have finished the match with only two or three players on the pitch. But the Australian referee was a forgiving sort, allowing quite a bit of rough play to go unpunished (on both ends, it must be admitted).

Though the Serbs & Montenegrins put on some heavy pressure in the final 20 minutes, the defence was equal to it, and keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi had to make only two or three really difficult saves over the entire course of the contest. If Serbia had managed to get an equaliser, we might have seen a bit more energy from Japan down the stretch, but they seemed content to just play out the string and claim the Kirin Cup trophy.

Below is the full roster for the match agains Serbia & Montenegro: