National Team Match:

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Japan 2 - 0 Cameroon

Date: July 28, 2007 Location: Vietnam Japan 2 1 1H 0 1 2H 0 0 Cameroon Marcus Tulio Tanaka (25') Koji Yamase (89') Scoring Akira Kaji Marcus Tulio Tanaka Cautions Moubia Matouk Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Akira Kaji , Yuji Nakazawa, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuichi Komano (Yasuyuki Konno 45'), Keita Suzuki (Hideo Hashimoto 74), Yuki Abe, Yasuhito Endo (Kengo Nakamura 63), Yoshito Okubo (Koji Yamase 50), Ryoichi Maeda (Daiki Takamatsu 59), Tatsuya Tanaka (Hisato Sato 59') TBA

A 2-0 victory over one of Africa's top teams, Cameroon, is certainly nothing to sneeze at. The final score was quite satisfactory, and tere was even enough positive play in the first half to give us some encouragement about the direction that the team is headed. But in actual fact, the second half of this match was a horror show of incompetent play, blundering mistakes and truly obscene coaching decisions. You can argue that it is best for coach Osim to make mistakes like these now, when it doesnt matter, rather than a year or two down the line. Nevertheless, after 45 minutes of watching the best performance from a national team that Japan has produced in at least five years, it was painful to watch the coach single-handedly dismantle everything, and turn what had been an uplifting football match into a near tragedy based on OBVIOUSLY dimwitted substitutions.

Over 45 minutes, Japan outplayed one of Africa's finest squads from one end of the part to the other. The finishing was a little bit ragged, but in addition to Tulio's fine header on a free kick, 25 minutes in, Japan also produced four or five excellent chances which only failed to produce a goal due to a combination of fine defending and a lack of understanding between the three strikers. Yoshito Okubo, Tatsuya Tanaka and Ryoichi Maeda performed so effectively, in fact, that many viewers were surely wondering why Osim didnt call these three up for the Asian Cup.

But at halftime, Osim pulled Yuichi Komano for Yasuyuki Konno, and things went downhill from that moment on. Five minutes later he also took off Okubo, and for the remaining 45 minutes of play Cameroon dominated. Japan no longer could hold the ball on offence, and when Osim pulled Tatsuya and Maeda to bring on Hisato Sato and the inexpressably worthless Daiki Takamatsu, on the stroke of the hour, we began to wonder whether perhaps he had made a deal with Cameroon to allow them to stage a second-half comeback. Only desperate work on defence by Yuji Nakazawa and Tulio preserved Japan's lead, and when Koji Yamase fired a long-distance drive just inside the right post, on the stroke of full time, it left Japan on the winning end of a completely undeserved score line.
The simple fact of the matter is that players like Takamatsu, Hashimoto and Konno are not of international quality, never have been, and never should be called to the national team again. At some stages these players were simply swinging wildly at the ball to hoof it upfield, even though they were not under pressure. We have aired our views of players like Akira Kaji and Yasuhito Endo enough times in the past that it isnt worth ssaying any more. The disparity in performance between the first half and the second half should be MORE than sufficient to demonstrate these facts. While we give Osim credit for dumping his JEF United favourites (at last), and we can understand his desire to have players PROVE themselves either capable or incapable, the fact is that many of these individuals have already had their chances to show what they can do, and come up short.

On a positive note, however, we have to admit that the lineup Osim sent out in the first half was extremely effective, and the quality of their play was truly a joy to behold. The 4-3-3 lineup is what we have expected to see Osim moving towards, for quite some time, and the only surprise is that he failed to adopt this formation (and these players) much much earlier. If he had, Japan might have had very different results at the Asian Cup.

The speed, clever footwork and relentless attacking drive exhibited by Okubo and Tanaka is exactly what Japan lacked at the Asian Cup. Though Cameroon are a very strong defensive team, the Japan attack created scoring opportunities one after the other for the entire first half. There might have been even more danger if a decent player had been available at right wing, rather than the lamentable Akira Kaji, but at least the Gamba right winger is competent enough to hold up his end on defence. Endo, meanwhile, still lacks the pace and quick decision-making ability that Japan really needs to sharpen the point of their attack, but we have to admit that when he has quick players all around him, his linking work in midfield is reasonably effective and his lack of mobility not as much of a drawback.

Step by step, Osim seems to be moving in a generally positive direction. The score line of this victory over Cameroon may be a bit misleading, but it nevertheless will provide the team with some confidence. If Japan can build on the success they had in the first half of this contest (and never again repeat the idiotic personnel moves that destroyed their effectiveness in the second half), then perhaps we can llok forward to more success when the team makes its tour of Europe, next month.