National Team Match:

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Japan 1 - 4 Brazil

Date: June 22, 2006 Location: Dortmund, GER. Japan 1 1 1H 1 0 2H 3 4 Brazil Keiji Tamada (34') Scoring Ronaldo (44') Juninho (53') Gilberto (59') Ronaldo (81') Akira Kaji Cautions Gilberto Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Akira Kaji, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yuji Nakazawa, Alex Santos, Junichi Inamoto, Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Mitsuo Ogasawara (Koji Nakata 56) Keiji Tamada, Seiichiro Maki (Naohiro Takahara 60) (Masashi Oguro 66) . Dida (Rogerio Ceni 82), Lucio, Gilberto, Gilberto Silva, Juninho, Juan, Kaka (Ze Roberto, Ronaldinho (Ricardinho), Ronaldo, Robinho

At last, the long wait is over. While there will certainly be plany of people in Japan (and overseas as well) wallowing in the disappointment, and trying to analyze "what went wrong", the Rising Sun News was pointing out what was wrong a year . . . perhaps even two years ago. No changes were made to address the problems that were obviously there, and when the time came, the flaws were exposed mercilessly.

Thats what happens when you go to the World Cup and play against top, world-class teams. Every one of the weaknesses that killed Japan in this tournament were openly on display in the Asian Cup, two full years ago. While Japan may have scraped through to win that tournament, it should have been obvious that the problems needed to be adddressed before the team faced more meaningful competition. Instead, Zico and his pals were allowed to muddle along for another two years, with no significant change whatsoever. If this experience teaches the JFA and the mainstream Japanese sports press to adopt a more realistic attitude and stop deceiving themselves on the basis of matches against AFC competition,, then it can only be for the best.

A few breif comments on this match itself are all that are needed. It wasnt a very pretty sight, particularly in the second half, and the only point in discussing the details is that it allows us to consider the factors that appeared over and over, throughout Zico's reign, and ultimately killed the team's hopes of progressing in this World Cup.

First of all, why have so few people noted the total absence of Shunsuke Nakamura from the past three matches. He has played all 270 minutes, yet barely touched the ball and was esentially invisible apart from the rare occassions when he stepped up to demonstrate that his accuracy on set plays was unbelievably un-Nakamura-like. Why have so few writers in the mainstream press even mentioned his pathetic performances? Well, perhaps its because they feel bad for him, and know that he is not deserving of any blame. According to comments from the Japan NT camp, Nakamura has been running a high fever for the entire week (one report said that his temperature PRIOR to the kickoff against Croatia was almost 39¼). In that condition, it was amazing that he managed to stay on his feet for 90 minutes, forget about actually making a contribution.

Anyone with an ounce of sense would be asking themselves: "what sort of idiot would force a player in that condition to start all three matches, when several other highly capable players were available to step in?" What sort of idiot?

Take three guesses.

A second factor in this match, as well as throughout the World Cup, was the atrocious passing of Hidetoshi Nakata. Perhaps there were a few things that he managed to do right over the course of three matches, but anyone who can claim that his passing was anything other than pathetic (and keep a straight face) must have been watching some other World Cup. In the first half of this contest, Mitsuo Ogasawara and Junichi Inamoto were doing a decent job of covering up for the inadequacies of their two midfield partners, and though Ronaldo's equalizer on the stroke of half time was certainly a blow to Japan's confidence, the team still had a fighting chance as the two teams came out for the second half. Considering that Nakamura was walking around in a coma and Nakata was firing passes to the ball-boys, most people would have expected a player like Shinji Ono, or even Takashi Fukunishi to have come off the bench for one of these two useless players. What sort of idiot would take off one of the only two midfielders that was actually making a contribution, and replace him with a player who hasnt seen ANY action at the NT level (and precious little at the club level) in over a year? What sort of idiot?

Hint: It starts with a 'Z'

Finally, after two matches in which Atsushi Yanagisawa and Naohiro Takahara demonstrated that they would have trouble finding the net if they were a king-sized bluefin tuna surrounded by the entire Japanese North Pacific fishing fleet, Japan FINALLY seemed to create a bit of effectife offensive pressure in this match with the combination of Keiji Tamada and Seiichiro Maki. While it was apparent that they might need to be substituted at some point in the second half (preferably by bringing on Oguro), both looked fresh, and capable of playing at least 20 or 30 minutes of the second half. Yet just a few minutes in, Zico pulled Maki out of the match and brought in the impotent Takahara. What sort of idiot would break up an effective attacking combination, before either player showed signs of fatigue? What sort of idiot?

You guessed it. Zico

At least now people will have another angle of insight on why Zico is the most renowned Brazilian player never to win a World Cup. Winning isnt something that just "happens" to those who are talented enough. Some peple are born winners. Some learn what it takes to win. Some refuse to stop trying until they manage to win. But you cant just sit back and expect it to "happen". No matter how talented you may or may not be. That unfortunate fact is Zico, in a nutshell.

We do not want to heap ALL of the blame on the head of the coach. The players certainly deserve a large share of their own. But Zico is the man who selected these players, often against the strenuous and repeated objections of people who were open-minded and honest enough to see their weaknesses. We intend to post a more detailed post-mortem on the Zico era, later today, but one point deserves to be made in this report, if only to give Zico his due. The past fur years have not been a complete disappointment. On the contrary, Zico did make some very valuable contributions to Japanese football, particularly over his first two years at the helm. The factor that led to his ultimate ruin was an unflinching, and unjustified loyalty to the players that formed the core of his team, over the full four-year period. As even the mainstream sports press has noted, once a player has earned Zico's favour, no amount of laziness, no degree of incompetence on the pitch, no loss of skill or sharpness, no blunder, however severe. . . . nothing . . . NOTHING . . . could ever shake that loyalty. Zico was determined to field his same preferred cast of characters even if it meant total catastrophe.

Sadly . . . both in life and in football . . . sometimes you get exactly what you ask for.