National Team Match:

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Japan 2 - 0 Montenegro

Date: June 1, 2007 Location: Shizuoka Stadium Japan 2 1 1H 0 1 2H 0 0 Montenegro Yuji Nakazawa (23') Naohiro Takahara (38') Scoring Yuki Abe Cautions Bruzenovic Jovanovic Lycevic Seigo Narazaki, Yuichi Komano, Yuji Nakazawa, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yuki Abe, Yasuhito Endo (Yasuyuki Konno 79), Keita Suzuki (Hideo Hashimoto 89), Kengo Nakamura (Jungo Fujimoto 89), Satoshi Yamagishi (Hisato Sato 63), Kisho Yano (Seiichiro Maki 81), Naohiro Takahara (Koki Mizuno 69) TBA

Although nearly three months have passed since the last time that Osim Japan played an international match, little has changed since the team's outing against Peru, in March. You can view this comment as either praise or criticism -- and it is intended as a little of both. Certainly the 2-0 score line was satisfactory. Montenegro may be a "minnow" by European standards, but they bring a number of qualities which present Japan with a good test of their competitiveness. The most important, and most readily apparent of these qualities is their physical size and athleticism. The starting lineup had an AVERAGE stature of 184 cm, and they were all relatively young and extremely fit. Few teams at the Asian Cup will be able to surpass Japan in technical skill, but several opponents could give them trouble by using speed, power and stature to their advantage. Therefore, a solid performance against a big, quick and physical opponent like Montenegro is definitely a good sign. Furthermore, both of the goals were well deserved, and with a bit better coordination Japan could have had one or two more. Though they still may not be as prolific as most European and South American teams, at least Japan seems to have overcome long-time concerns about their ability to score goals. In this sense, if no other, Osim Japan has clearly moved to a more competitive level than national teams of the recent past.

Despite a fairly solid victory, however, most of those who watched the contest came away feeling less than euphoric. Coach Osim certainly wasnt entirely happy, and in the post-match interviews the players seemed to be a bit subdued and frustrated as well. It is good to know that the team expects more of themselves. Unfortunately, we really did not see any evidence to suggest that anyone recognises the reasons for this less-than-satisfying performance

If you asked us to sum up the problem in one sentence . . . well . . . to be honest, that might be asking the impossible. But we will give it a try. The team's shortcomings seem to be related to three factors -- intensity (both physical effort and mental concentration), teamwork, and player selection. In his post-match comments, Osim himself alluded to the second of these items, complaining that his players were too individualistic, and failed to follow the game plan. While this is a very accurate observation, under the current circumstances it is easy to understand why players might tend to try to do too much themselves. After all, Osim has used a lot of different people in many different roles, and apart from possibly Yuichi Komano and Naohiro Takahara, nobody can be sure of their spot in the squad. No wonder the players are trying to make a spectacular play by themselves . . . . surely they think that is the best way to "prove themselves", and earn a spot in the Asian Cup squad.

Under the circumstances, this simply cant be avoided. Osim has not had enough time to build his team, and considering the vast pool of talent available, his decision to cast a wide net, and look at a lot of different options, is no doubt for the best. But this problem could have been alleviated -- at least to some degree -- if the JFA had arranged more matches over the past six months. We simply cannot understand why Japan has played only one international contest this year. Yes, the schedule is very busy, with J.League, ACL, Nabisco Cup and various other competitions taking place. But there have been several international breaks this year, which other Asian teams have used as an opportunity to prepare for the Asian Cup. Japan's U-22 team has been in action on several occasions, but the full NT played only once: against Peru in March. If Osim had been given 3 or 4 additional chances to test his players and try out various combinations, the starting lineup might be a lot clearer than it is now. Not only would players be more secure in their positions; they also would probably have developed a better chemistry than what currently exists.

So the issue of teamwork and coordination is one that cannot really be blamed on either the players or the coach. Osim did not assume control over the team until August of last year, and with only 9 or 10 months to build and prepare, it is only natural that Osim Japan is still a "work in progress". That cant be helped.

However, the lack of intensity that we sensed, particularly from a few key players, is not so easy to excuse, and it definitely should be the number one concern for coach Osim over the next few weeks. Japan put on a very strong performance in the opening 30 minutes or so of this contest. But thereafter the level of energy and intensity seemed to drop off. We were particularly disappointed with Satoshi Yamagishi (who really shouldnt be in the squad to begin with), Yuki Abe and Yasuhito Endo. The latter two players, as we have noted in the past, play a balancing role in the team. Endo, in particular, is responsible for moving into positions vacated by teammates, as they shift fluidly from place to place on the pitch. This is the nature of the Osim game plan, and therefore Endo and Abe may have SOME excuse for their apparent tentativeness and lack of energy. They may be reluctant to commit themselves too aggressively, lest it leave a gap for the opponent to exploit.

But at some point, these players need to take some risks, and push with more energy and intensity into the attack, if they want to create good goal-scoring opportunities. We quickly lost count of how many times Japan developed a dangerous offensive surge, but saw the chance peter out because there simply were not enough bodies in the attacking zone. Endo, Abe, and to a lesser extent Keita Suzuki, were caught again and again lingering in deep midfield, failing to provide the support that the attack needed to break down Montenegro's defence.

If this "lack of intensity" is a shortcoming that the players need to address, then the team's inconsistency and occasional lack of balance are a factor for Osim to work on. We firmly believe that inappropriate player selections are holding Japan back; indeed, this may be the most important shortcoming of the team, at present. If Osim can make the right adjustments, we think that Japan will have a very good chance of raising the Asian Cup for a third consecutive title. But if he persists with the player selections he made against Peru, and reverted to in the latter half of this contest, we are less than optimistic about Japan's chances of going all the way.

The success Japan achieved in the early part of this contest demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt (if any such doubts still existed) that Yuichi Komano MUST be played on the right wing. Throughout the first 45 minutes, Komano was the most dangerous weapon at Japan's disposal. He assisted on one goal, narrowly missed collecting two additional assists, and also had two very dangerous shots on goal. But as soon as he was shifted to the left side, his impact diminished and the keen edge of his forays into attack was critically blunted. It is certainly true that Komano is better on the left than either Yamagishi or Endo. And it is also true that Osim has some decent players who can replace Komano on the right -- such as Akira Kaji and Koki Mizuno (neither of whom are able to switch wings, as Komano does).

None of that matters. What DOES matter is that when Komano is on the right wing, he creates goals. If Osim has to play a weaker option on the left, so be it. He could even make a virtue out of necessity by deploying an effective defender such as Yuki Abe or Koji Nakata in this spot. But he definitely can NOT continue forcing Komano to play out of position -- as experience has shown, that is akin to deliberately filing down the edge of your most dangerous sword.

A second personnel move that Osim has made in two consecutive matches -- both times with discouraging results -- is the shift from a "four back" defence (in reality, a two-defender formation, since the wingbacks play highly mobile and predominantly attacking roles) to a three-back formation. In the match against Peru, Japan shifted their formation in the second half, with Yuki Abe dropping into a true "libero" role between the two central defenders. This move coincided with a complete loss of attacking impetus. In the match against Montenegro, Abe again shifted to the middle, after the halftime break, and the result was identical.

Try as we might, we really cannot figure out what Osim is trying to achieve with this adjustment. Not only does it take one more player out of the attack; it doesnt even seem to improve the defensive play, significantly. On the contrary, with fewer players in midfield, it seems to allow opponents to string passes together more effectively on the counter. In the second half of this contest, Montenegro had far more possession than they did in the opening 45 minutes, and they managed to penetrate for some of their best shots of the entire contest.

Perhaps when Japan faces world-class opponents, whose strikers are capable of taking on, and beating the central defenders on a regular basis, the use of a libero would make sense. But against Asian opposition, Keisuke Tsuboi and Yuji Nakazawa have clearly demonstrated the speed, strength and intelligence to keep their men under wraps. Seigo Narazaki was never really tested in this contest. Indeed, he barely touched the ball until AFTER Japan made the switch to three central defenders. For the purposes of the Asian Cup, we definitely think that Osim should stick with the two-back formation. Any risk this might create, in terms of allowing opposing strikers to attack one-on-one, is more than offset by the superior offensive impetus Japan gets when they have another body in midfield.

On a positive note, we thought that Naohiro Takahara and Kisho Yano made the most effective pair up front, for Japan, that we have seen since Osim took over as head coach. We would like to see Takahara teamed with Hisato Sato, in the match against Colombia, to see if the quicker, more mobile Sato can create more space for both himself and Takahara, but if that experiment should fail, we think that Osim has identified a fine partnership for the Asian Cup, in Takahara and Yano. Both are similar players -- tall, strong in the air, and more effective at finishing than at creating opportunities. But they each have an elusive quality, and a "feel" for running off the ball, which seems to create almost as many openings in the back of the opposing defence as you would get by replacing one of them with a dribbler/penetrator, such as Sato.

As we noted right at the top, Japan played their best football in the first half. Their play fizzled out after halftime, due largely to the formational changes we noted above: pushing Abe into the back line, and moving Komano over to the left wing. Over the final 20 minutes both teams were making too many personnel changes to really develop a rhythm, and it is hard to make too many observations about relative effectiveness. However, Satoshi Yamagishi definitely was not missed when he came off in the 63 minute (we viewed him as the weakest link in this match), while Jungo Fujimoto made a few exciting surges through midfield in the breif time he spent at attacking midfield.

The match got off to a slow start, as it took Japan about 10 minutes to find a rhythm. Once they began moving the ball around midfield effectively, however, the scoring opportunities began to pop up. Several times, Kengo Nakamura or Yasuhito Endo came within a whisker of slipping the ball behind the Montenegrin back line, for Yano or Takahara. But the most dangerous chances clearly came when Japan was able to move the ball down one wing or the other, and then use a quick cross or an exchange of inlet passes to get the ball into a shooting position.

After one such exchange, 22 minutes in, Keita Suzuki sent Komano into the right corner and his cross for Takahara at the far post was headed desperately over the end line by the defence. Endo set up for the corner kick, but instead of sending the ball into the box, he dropped it to Nakamura, about 25 meters up the line, on the left side. As the defence rushed out at Nakamura, he feintd to the middle, then dropped the ball back to Endo at the edge of the penalty area. Endo looped the ball for the far post, and with all eyes focused on the left side of the pitch, Yuji Nakazawa was able to slip, unnoticed, behind the defence. As the unsuspecting Montenegrin defender set himself to head it clear, Nakazawa soared high above him to reach the ball first and head it underneath the crossbar, giving Japan the early lead.

The opening goal was followed by a breif surge of pressure by Montenegro, trying to fight their way back from the deficit. But Japan rode this out, and by the 30 minute mark they were once again controlling the lion's share of possession and getting occasional looks at goal. The second goal arrived in the 38 minute, as Komano again broke loose down the wing. Nakamura, who had been working the ball up the left sideline with Endo and Abe, suddenly spotted Komano making a dash forward, and sent a powerful cross-field pass into the completely vacant right corner. When he caught up with the ball, Komano had acres of open space to work with, and he turned toward goal while tracking Takahara's movement into the box. Komano suddenly fired off a rising line drive with his right boot, and Takahara gave it a glancing not as he streaked toward the near post. The ball ricocheted powerfully inside the upright, leaving the keeper with no chance whatsoever to intervene.

As noted earlier, the remainder of the match was rather spotty. Yano very nearly extended the lead on a shot from the top of the box, and just before the break Yamagishi made his most meaningful contribution of the match with a looping header from the penalty spot, again on a cross from Komano. However, a leaping stab by the Montenegrin keeper just barely managed to flick the ball over the crossbar, and the score remained 2-0 at the break. In the second half, however, the team lost its rhythm and intensity, and were pushjed into a very evenly matched, back-and-forth exchange of cautious, probing attacks and counterattacks.

In the 66 minute Japan was fortunate not to concede a goal on a penalty kick. In actual fact, Montenegro did not deserve the shot from the spot, in the first place. Following a corner kick in the Japan end, Takahara chased out after the loose ball, and as he approached a Montenegrin player very blatantly threw himself across Takahara's path and dove to the turf. The Danish referee (who was better than a lot of the officials we have seen here in Asia, but several times showed himself to be a sucker for playacting) pointed to the penalty spot. But justice prevailed as the kicker shanked his shot wide of the left post (indeed, Narazaki guessed correctly, and probably could have made the save even if the shot was on target).

That missed PK roughly coincided with a loss of effectiveness on the part of both teams (with six substitutes used by each team, that wasnt really surprising). Apart from a few half-chances by Japan, in the final few minutes, the rest was anticlimax. We will be hoping that Osim Japan can take the intensity up a notch when they play Colombia, on June 5. Though this performance was encouraging, we still see a number of areas where the team can improve -- and will have to improve if they want to retain their Asian title.