National Team Match:

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Japan 1 - 0 Ecuador

Date: March 30, 2006 Location: Oita "Big Eye" Stadium Japan 1 0 1H 0 1 2H 0 0 Ecuador Hisato Sato (85') Scoring Shinji Ono Mitsuo Ogasawara Cautions Ericson George Edwin Tenorio Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Keisuke Tsuboi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Akira Kaji, Takashi Fukunishi, Shinji Ono, Alessandro Santos, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Hisato Sato 77), Keiji Tamada (Seiichiro Maki 77) Christian Mora, Jose Perlaza, Erikson George, Johnny Balderon, Gustevo Figureroa (Walter Calderon 67), Jose Luis Cortez, Luis Caicedo (Leonardo Soledipsa 67), Marlon Ayovi, Giovanni Espinoza, Luis Saritama (Patricio Urrutia 85), Edwin Tenorio

OK, for those of you who simply must hear the good news first, we can report with confidence that Japan were a superior team, in just about every respect, to their opponents. They dominated midfield play, showed superior teamwork, defended quite well, and even created a lot of good scoring opportunities. That isnt too bad considering that Ecuador are one of the other 31 teams that will be taking part in this summer's festivities in Germany.

But unfortunately, the good news doesnt tell the full story of this match. For those who insist on observing that the glass is half empty, it is hard to overlook some other rather discouraging points as well. Naturally the Ecuadorians would start off with the old tale about jet lag. A worn excuse, indeed, but one that was hard to miss. Not only did the players seem a half-step too slow, they were clearly CONSCIOUS of the fact that they were a half-step slow, and played cautious football as a result. Under such conditions, the way to ensure both a vvictory and an entertaining show for the fans was to score as early as possible and force the tired opponent to come out of their defensive shell. But Japan not only let Ecuador off the hook for 85 minutes, they did so for reasons which are very hard to justify.

As early as the 30 minute, when Tatsuhiko Kubo missed the net completely with his third wide-open shooting opportunity of the contest, it was clear that this was not his night. The Rising Sun News has never been particularly overwhelmed by Kubo, who may have a decent scoring record under Zico, but who went 20 matches without even coming CLOSE to hitting the net under Phillippe Troussier. He can indeed be a dangerous finisher when he is on form. But when he is NOT on form, he can be about as useful as a jar of saffron in a kimchi-nabe restaurant. If Zico is going to use Kubo up front at the World Cup, it is absolutely essential that he recognise this fact, and be prepared to go to his bench quickly if the big fella shows signs of having an "off night".

Believe it or not, even after Kubo had squandered ANOTHER two wide-open shots in the second half, Zico still stuck with him, and only went to his bench with 13 minutes remaining in the contest. It tok his replacement, Hisato Sato, a mere 7 minutes (and only one attempt) to do what Kubo failed to in 77. If it had been simply a matter of the player having a bit of bad luck in finishing, but otherwise playing well, one might be able to justify such a long delay in going to the bench. But as we have noted already, it was already apparent bvery early in the contest that some players (not only Kubo, but also Takashi Fukunishi and even, to some extent, Shinji Ono) were not really on top of their game. With 6 substitutions permitted under the rules of the match, and a host of excellent options on the bench, there is simply no way to either explain or justify Zico's decision to leave the starting lineup unchanged for 77 minutes, even though it was obvious that if Japan could only finish off one of their scoring opportunities, Ecuador's resistance would collapse.

Long-time readers are already quite familiar with our views on some of the players that Zico insists on using. But there is no need to introduce personalities, preferences and other such issues to this discussion. The concern we have, and which has been plaguing us for at least the past year, is that Zico seems to have no ability whatsoever to recognise when a player is having an "off night: This is the most basic coaching decision that there is, because regardless of the team, the level of competition, the tournament, and any other factors, a coach is ALWAYS going to face this problems. Some days, even the best of players simply cant manage to do anything right. It happens even to the very best. And any coach worthy of the name needs to be capable of noticing when a player is not performing well, and getting a substitute in for him at the earliest possible opportunity. One can only speculate on what might have happened if Zico had brought on Sato and Seiichiro Maki for Kubo and Keiji Tamada at half time (or even earlier) rather than with just 13 minutes left to play. However, we strongly suspect that Japan would have managed a much easier victory. (In fairness, we should note that Tamada had a fine outing. Even if he had been left on the pitch, and only Kubo replaced, we think Japan would have produced much better finishing.

What makes Zico's stubborn refusal to "show a lack of faith" in underperforming players that much more annoying is that, over two thirds of the pitch, Japan were running Ecuador into the ground. Shinji Ono has admitted himself that he is still at "only about 40%" of his peak ability, but even a 40% contribution from Ono, coupled with the clever movement of Mitsuo Ogasawara and some good build-up work by Keiji Tamada, Akira Kaji and Alex Santos (who also looked much more convincing in this match than he has in earlier NT contests this year) was enough to have the Ecuador midfield in full retreat. If Kubo and Tamada had managed to hit the net with even a third of the high-quality shots that the midfield created for them, Japan woudl havve been up by 2 or 3 goals at half time.

The defence was also solid. There were two or three blunders in the back which gave Ecuador some open shots, but Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi was never forced to deal with anything more dangerous than a single 30-meter+ blast, near the end of the first half (which he misplayed, but still had time to palm off the crossbar).

In short, if Japan had been able to finish off even a few of its scoring chances, this match would have been a rout, and the team could be progressing towards Germany with a high level of confidence. Kubo is not the one to blame for this state of affairs. Everyone has an off night (Kubo, perhaps, more than most . . . but that is a separate issue). The only person who bears responsibility is the person who failed to either recognise, or accept, or adjust to this obvious weakness in his team. When a striker fails to touch the ball more than ten times in a half, five ow which are on uncontested shots which he sents balooning into the stratosphere, it is the coach's responsibility to recognise that he is having an off night, and get a replacement onto the pitch. The performances of both Sato AND Maki over the 13 minutes they were on the pitch leaves little doubt about whether or not Japan would have been better off with them joining the match at an earlier juncture.

There really isnt much more that we can say, beyond the comment we made on our main news page. Unless Zico somehow has an epiphany, and learn to be a more effective and proactive coach within the next three months, the Rising Sun News headline on June 23 will read:

"I Told You So!"