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National Team Match: |
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After the pathetic performance that Japan turned in at the Azadi Stadium in Iran, on Saturday, you might have guessed that the team would come out fired up and determined to produce a result in their contest against Bahrain, on Wednesday night.
If so, you guessed wrong. This was by far the most pathetic showing by a Japan team in recent memory, and by half time, the Rising Sun News was eagerly shouting encouragement to the players in red, hoping against hope that Bahrain would pull off a win, and put an end to the Zico era once and for all.
Those who have followed our coverage of the national team for some time are aware that we have bent over backwards trying to give Zico the benefit of the doubt, to accentuate the positive results that he has achieved with the Japan national team and to recognise his accomplishments as the winningest coach in Japan's football history. After tonight, however, it is no longer possible to put a brave face on things. Any coach who fields players that failed to show even the slightest indication of ability or footballing skill in the match against Iran, and sticks with them to the very end despite the fact that for the second match in arow, they played like a bunch of talentless hacks, does not deserve to be coaching the national team of Mongolia, much less the Japan national team.
Sure, Zico can fall back on the excuse that Japan's entire sporting press, and virtually every television commentator who has babbled incoherently about the matter over the past week, are also incapable of recognising how pitifly poor players like Hidetoshi Nakata and Naohiro Takahara played in the two NT matches this week. But that no longer suffices as a cop-out excuse. The fact is, any coach with half a brain and one testicle would have benched Nakata and Takahara before this match started, and even a lobotomized eunuch would have been capable of pulling the underperforming Fiorentina midfielder and the wayward Hamburger striker at half time. Neither one managed to even produce a decent shot on net, much less creating meaningful offence. The small number of meaningful scoring opportunities that Japan did manage to produce in this contest can be credited to Shunsuke Nakamura, Alex Santos and Yuji Nakazawa. Hey, lets not pull any punches, lets just state the obvious . . . . the only player who managed to score any goals for Japan on Wednesday evening was BAHRAINI defender Mohammed Salmeen.
If readers are sensing a tiny hint of dissatisfaction in our comments, then they can consider themselves very perceptive, indeed. After a week of listening to clueless, starstruck reporters fawn obsequiosly over Japan's "maahhhhhvellous" European-based players, the bush league performance turned in by the Japan NT on Wednesday produced a sensation not unlike a sandpaper rubdown followed by a good dousing in rubbing alcohol. To put it as succinctly as possible, Japan played like . . . well . . . that stuff that farmers use to fertilize their crops. Sure, Nakata, Takayuki Suzuki and Takahara deserve the most intense scorn, but apart from the defensive unit (keeper Seigo Narazaki, center backs Yuji Nakazawa and Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, and to a somewhat lesser extent, wings Alex Santos and Akira Kaji), none of the players on the Japan side seemed to possess the skill or enthusiasm necessary for World Cup participation.
The character of this contest was established in the middle of the first half when over a period of about ten minutes, Japan had a sequence of four free kicks, six corner kicks and a dozen throw-ins, and kept the ball on the Bahrain end of midfield for an unbroken period of nearly 12 minutes, yet failed to even produce a single shot on net!!!!! Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending upon whether you would rather see Japan eke its way into the World Cup undeservedly, or whether you would rather just call the Zico era a total loss and start over with a clean slate), Japan's total dominance of possession and field position seemed to wear down the mental stamina of the Bahrain defenders by the second half. In the 72 minute, Japan won a free kick about ten meters outside the penalty area, and Shunsuke Nakamura lobbed a high ball for the far (left) post. Yuji Nakazawa headed it back across the face of goal, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto headed it back the other way, Takahara took a wild swing at the ball and pushed it in front of net yet again . . . when it looked like Japan would once again prove unable to finish off the play, the ball fell at the feet of Mohammed Saleem, who tried to clear the ball over his own end line but mishit his clearance slightly, and sent the ball into his own net.
If not for this gift from the Bahrain defence, it remains to be seen whether Japan would have EVER managed to put the ball into the net. We have been critical of Japan's performances on occasion, in the past, but until the events of the past week, when Nakata and Takahara returned to the team following a prolonged absence, we thought that Japan would somehow manage to make their way through to the World Cup in Germany. The resulots of the past week, and the two matches against Iran and Bahrain, provide all the evidence that anyone could possibly need to draw a few very clear and emphatic conclusions:
First, the presence of Hide Nakata is a clear detriment to the national team. I dont care HOW famous he might be, the simple fact is that when he is NOT in the lineup, Japan plays reasonably well, and looks competitive even against strong opposition. When he is included in the lineup, Japan look like some half-assed Asian pretender who has absolutely no business in the World Cup. I dont necessarily have an explanation for this fact, and I really cant be bothered to look for one. Anyone with eyes can see that this is the case, and it is high time that the media, and NT fans came to terms with the fact that Nakata does not deserve to play another match in Japan blue.
Second, Zico hasnt got a clue. Not in the least! Fuggedaboudit! The Rising Sun News has been very patient and tolerant in this regard, insisting that Zico be given a chance to demonstrate his coaching abilities on the basis of concrete results, and keeping an open mind about whether or not he deserves to be coaching the Japan national team. Lets face it, anyone who can sit on the bench and watch their players pass the ball to the opponent, stumble around in tactically dangerous defensive positions, and miss their assignments time and time again, yet stubbornly refuse to bring in a substitute -- well, that sort of person should not be entrusted with the World Cup hopes of an entire country.
The gods were remarkably indulgent on Wednesday evening, and Japan managed to claim three points and a victory over Bahrain. If they can achieve a similar result in the return match in Bahrain, three months hence, the team will probably qualify for the 2006 World Cup.
Y'know what?
It just doesnt matter. We are beyond the point where mere qualification will suffice. Japan has the skill, the resources and the experience to be THE elite team in Asia. So long as the national team is managed on the basis of which players are the most popular with teenaged girls in Shibuya, or who sells the most t-shirts for their candy-ass European club, Japan simply doesnt deserve the credit. Give me a bunch of fired-up, uncompromising, unintimidateable, in-your-face until the final whistle North Koreans, any day of the week. About the only other thing worth saying is . . . . thank GOD the J.League resumes next week!
National Team
Overseas Players
Japan 1 - 0 Bahrain 