National Team Match:

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U-23 Japan 1 - 1 Angola NT

Date: March 27, 2008 Location: Tokyo Natl Stadium Japan 1 0 1H 0 1 2H 1 1 Angola Yohei Toyoda (53') Scoring Janzi (76') Toshihiro Aoyama Cautions Jividi Shusaku Nishikawa, Naoaki Aoyama (Yusaku Tanaka 83), Masahiko Inoha, Masato Morishige, Hajime Hosogai, Yuto Nagatomo, Toshihiro Aoyama (Hiroki Nakayama 74), Tsukasa Umesaki (Shinji Kagawa 71), Kota Ueda, Yohei Toyoda (Shinzo Koroki 67), Tadanari Lee (Shinji Okayama 88) TBA

To hell with the full national team. The sooner that Okada Japan bombs out of the World Cup qualifiers, the sooner that the whole generation of nancy-boys can be relegated to the dim recesses of our worst repressed memories, and football fans can start enjoying the show, once again. If we had the time to expend, we would love to wax poetic over the true joy of seeing players who actually throw themselves into a match with complete commitment and never stop chasing a result until the final whistle. Every single player who took the pitch at National Stadium on Thursday evening deserves a 48-line Shakespearean sonnet in iambic pentameter to recount the feats they accomplished and the joy that fancs received from watching their magnificent play.

OK, it wasnt a perfect performance. The final score was mildly disappointing considering how dramatically Japan outplayed its opponents -- the full-strength full national team of Angola. But after suffering through the agony of Okada Japan's performance on Wednesday night, this was as refreshing as a cool spring rain after a month-long drought. Just one, essentially meaningless play midway through the first half was sufficient to encapsulate and advertise to the world in 64-point Arial Black Boldface type everything that is WRONG with the full NT at the moment, and everything that Japan SHOULD be doing if they want to get back on the right track in their World Cup qualification campaign. About 20 minutes into the contest, with both teams pressing hard and trying to take control of the tempo by establishing an edge in ball possession, a long pass towards the Japan box was lofted clear, and bounded off towards the right sideline. As FC Tokyo rookie Yuto Nagatomo started chasing after it, he looked up and saw a tall, imposing Angolan defensive midfielder dashing towards him, an almost identical distance from the ball.

From several years of sad experience we can describe exactly what would have happened if this had been any member of the full Japan National Team: the player in question would have immediately put on the brakes, allowed his opponent to collect the ball, and taken up a position to ensure that the opponent could not turn it into a dangerous counterattack opportunity. But the 170cm, 65kg Nagatomo -- seeing a player with a 15 or 20cm height advantage and at least an additional 20 kg worth of kinetic force charging straight at him -- simply charged straight ahead and slammed headlong into the opposing player. Though the Angolan obviously had the greater strength and power on his side, so shocked was he to slam headlong into the diminutive Nagatomo that he lost his focus on the ball, and Nagatomo snatched it up and cleared it upfield.

There were dozens of similar examples over the course of this match, but none was so simple and so starkly expressive of how "winning" football teams approach the contest. These kids werent "playing it safe" -- they were thrwing themselves into the fray in search of victory, and if someone got in their way, then that was just too bad for whoever got bowled over by their enthusiastic momentum.

Nagatomo was a real standout in this contest, running from one end of the pitch to the other in a constant blitz of intense, yet extremely well-controlled energy. But he certainly was not the only one. Yohei Toyoda, Tadanari Lee, and their substitutes Shinzo Koroki and Shinji Okazaki all made strong arguments for a place in the Olympic squad. Tsukasa Umesaki was sharp in the first half, and when he ran out of gas, 19-year-old Shiinni Kagawa came on and dazzled the audience whit his audacious dribbling penetration moves. Hajime Hosogai, Kota Ueda and Masato Morishige provided constant ball pressure on the defensive end plus clever ball movement and hard running off the ball when Japan went on the attack. Masahiko Inoha was a rock in the center of defence, and you got the sense that any time coach Okada decides to come to his senses and start selecting players who are up for the task, he and teammate Daiki Iwamasa will be more than happy to step into the center of the back line for the full national team.The two Aoyamas -- S-Pulse's Naoaki and Sanfrecce's Toshihiro -- also stood firm against what was clearly a very talented and hard-working Angolan offence. In fact, the only goal Japan allowed came shortly after Toshihiro was replaced by Hiroki Nakayama. On the very next play Nakayama, who clearly was still not entirely sure of his responsibilities, failed to pick up Manchester United's young prospect Manucho and allowed the speedy striker to dash past him and onto a long cross. This opened up the back of Japan's defence for the first (and only) time in the entire contest, and Janzi slammed home Manucho's lay-off pass. Not that Nakayama didnt play very well over the remaining 20 minutes; he did. But that one moment of uncertainty was the only thing separating Sorimachi Japan from an uplifting victory.

Japan had taken the lead shortly after the break, on a play that again demonstrates the intensity with which Japan played. As Umesaki tried to move the ball up the right sideline he was cut off and the defender cleared the ball over the sideline. Umesaki raced to collect the ball while Nagatomo continued running down the sideline and deep behind the Angolan defence. Umesaki's quick recovery and throw caught the Angolans of guard and the defence was forced to spring back towards their goal before Nagatomo could turn the corner. But in doing so, they turned their backs on Toyoda, who locked eyes with Nagatomo and started his run. Before either defender could clear Nagatomo's low cross, Toyoda swooped between them and stabbed the ball into the roof of the net.

Despite the unfortunate equaliser, Japan continued to press Angola further and further back, seizing such an advantage in momentum and intensity that the final five minutes of the contest were played entirely in the Angolan end of the pitch. The only thing missing was the late winner, though Koroki and Kagawa both came agonizingly close in the final few minutes

THIS is what football is all about. And if the "senior" players dont have the cojones to play with the sort of ferocity and determination that we saw on display Thursday evening, they should step aside and let the "Beijing Generation" take over.