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International Week!

• Japan Youth Cup (U-20) -- Mar 23 & 25
  • Japan 4 - 3 Chile
  • Ukraine 1 - 2 Mexico
  • Japan 1 - 1 Mexico
  • Ukraine 0 - 2 Chile
• Asian Club Championship Mar 21-26
  • Jubilo 3 - 0 Suwon Bluewings
  • Jubilo 6 - 2 Shandong Luneng
  • Jubilo vs PSM Makasaar
• Asian Club Winner's Cup Mar 24
  • Shimizu S-Pulse vs BEC Tero Sasana (Thai)
• France 5 - 0 Japan

Japan Youth Cup (U-20) -- Mar 23 & 25

Since all four teams have qualified for the U-20 championships in Argentina, the Japan Youth Cup should provide an interesting look at some of the top youngsters from their respective countries. As the host, Japan may be viewed as one of the favourites, but they are likely to face a tough challenge. Japan will meet Chile and Ukraine will play Mexico on Friday March 23, at the brand-new Tokyo Stadium, in Chofu, Tokyo. The finals will be held on Sunday Mar 25, with the winners and losers of Friday's matches playing off to decide the tournament winner (as well as settling the third place team).

Among the players to watch for Japan will be Yokohama Marinos forward Yutaka Tahara and Consadole Sapporo's Yuto Sato, both of whom have had fairly productive outings for their respective clubs during the early stages of the season. In the midfield, the key question will be which (if any) of the several up-and-coming playmakers will establish himself as the field general. Yoshito Ohkubo, of Cerezo Osaka, showed a great deal of leadership on his high school club, which won the national championship, but he has yet to make a mark for the U-20 team. He is listed as a forward on the team roster, but this reflects the so-called "4-3-3" lineup that coach Nishimura employs, where one "forward" actually plays as the set-up man in the middle, a la Francesco Totti at AS Roma. Another potential candidate would be Takeshi Aoki, who came on as a substitute for Kashima Antlers last week and had his best showing yet.

Below is a lineup of the players selected to Japan's U-20 team for the tournament

Japan 4 - 3 Chile

Stunning -- it is hard to thing of any more accurate word. The opposition was completely deflated. Even the highly partisan fans at Tokyo Soccer Stadium, in Chofu, who had watched Japan stumble around haplessly for the first 45 minutes, didnt quite know what to think. The goal rush was so sudden, so devastating and so complete that not even a higher score lne could have made the result any more . . . well . . .

. . . stunning.

When Japan lined up for the initial kick-off, things did not look good. Neither Yasuto Ohkubo nor Yutaka Tahara started the game. Takashi Hirajima was playing the invisible third defender position (he was listed as a defender, but he was nowhere to be seen when the opposing players were on the attack). Takeshi Aoki, Naohiro Ishikawa and Kazuyuki Morisaki were pushed way forward, just behind the two strikers Koji Yamase and Ryoichi Maeda. The team was completely off balance and poorly coordinated, exactly as they had been in the first half against Brazil. Really, after seeing this happen three times in a row, one can only draw the conclusion that Nishimura has decided to deliberately play everyone out of position during the first half, in order to lull the opponent into a false sense of security.

It must be said that Japan moved the ball well in midfield from the outset. They had a bit of trouble finishing, but they did create some good opportunities for themselves. On the other hand, the defense was pitiful. The back line were trying to mark Chile man-to-man, but Valdes and Salugado were able to dance circles around Nishizawa and Hirayama. It wasnt until Japan was already two goals down, and Nishimura replaced Hirayama with Ohkubo (pushing Ishikawa into defence and moving Aoki back to volante) that Japan were able to slow down the Chilean attacks.

Both of Chile's first-half strikes were very pretty plays, with through passes opening up Japan's defence like a brightly-wrapped package on Christmas morning (Valdes sent Salugado free in the 11 minute and Salugado returned the favour on the stroke of 20). Despite some flashes of quality, especially from Ishikawa and Maeda, Japan looked thoroughly outclassed. When Japan went into the locker room at the half two goals down, you could almost hear people in the stadium thinking to themselves ("OK, Ill watch until Chile scores one more goal, then get out of the stadium early and beat the crowds at Tobitakyu station . . .")

As the second half started, Tahara came in to play the front post position, Ohkubo was a half step back, and Maeda moved to a roving wing position in the front line. Aoki was playing a central volante position with Konno just behind him in defence, and Ishikawa moved to the right wingback spot, where he played a Narahashi-like overlapping defensive role. It was like we were watching a completely different team (. . . . well, we WERE watching a completely different team). Japan walked out for the second stanza and simply blew their opponents off the pitch.

Japan had dangerous chances from the very outset. It was clear that the momentum was quite a bit different from what had prevailed in the first half. But Chile were still cool and collected, and they managed to turn away the initial thrusts. The first goal came about 13 minutes into the second half, on a mad scramble in front of net. After a corner kick was cleared to just outside the box, Konno lobbed a ball in from the right side, and it was deflected, tipped, blocked, stumbled over and nearly saved before Ohkubo managed to put a toe to it and stuff it into the goal.

Less than four minutes later, Japan were charging in on the Chilean net once again. This time a bit of good ball movement on the left side provided a cross into the box, and Tahara -- whose capabilities Chile had yet to recognise -- had just one defender in his vicinity as he camped out in front of goal. A thundering header put Japan level, and left the Chilean players standing with mouths agape.

But Japan was just getting warmed up. Shortly thereafter, another stampeding goal rush gave Japan a corner kick from the right side. Ohkubo took the kick, lofting the ball for the far post and Tahara sailed over three defenders to head home his second goal of the night.

Though Japan's defenders still demonstrated their inability to cover Valdez and Salugado effectively, by this point the Chileans were so psyched out that they became their own worst enemies. Indeed, Salugado was extremely lucky not to be sent to the showers, as I counted at least three offenses that could easily have earned him his second yellow. However, the match was not quite over. In about the 80 minute, Chile won a free kick about eight metres outside the penalty box. Japan made the mistake of not sending someone to stand over the ball until they were fully ready. Valdez set up quickly, and took the kick before Japan were set. The kick found the low left corner, bringing Chile even again at 3-3.

But Japan had saved the best for last. In the 87 minute, a sequence of nice ball movement sent Ohkubo to the right side of the penalty area with just one defender in covering distance. Ohkubo put on an unbelievable fake. feinting first to the corner, then back inside, and then turning back to the end line. His final move left the Chilean defender washed, spun-dry, pressed, starched, folded up and stuffed away in a drawer marked "sucker". As he turned in along the end line, he saw Tahara towering at the back of the defence, and sent in a high lob to the far post. For the third time on the night, Tahara soared high above his defenders like Mir over the Pacific, crushing the ball inside the far post for the final goal of the match

Mexico 2 - 1 Ukraine

Japan 1 - 1 Mexico (PK 4 - 2)

Mexico got on the scoreboard first in the first half, on a rather odd set play that was finished on a header by defender Hugo Sanchez. Japan equalised on the stroke of half time, with a PK from Koji Yamase, after Mexico were called for pulling down Tahara on a PK.

Though Tahara had some good runs in the first half, Japan looked rather flat (actually both teams were less than impressive). It was only when Ohkubo came in in the second stanza that the Japanese team started to create good ball movement in the front line, but at this point Mexico were doing an Italy imitation, with nine or ten men packed into the penalty area, so there was no room to score. Keeper Yosuke Fujigaya was the man of the hour for Japan, though he didnt do much until the regular time was over. In the PK shootout, though, he came up big, blocking two Mexico shots and giving Japan victory.

Chile 2 - 0 Ukraine

Asian Club Championship Quarterfinal Round

3 - 0 Suwon Bluewings

Meanwhile, Shandong defeated PSM Makassar 3-1 to set up the key matchup of the tournament on Saturday, when Shandong took on Jubilo.

6 - 0 Shandong Luneng

As the Jubilo striker lined up to sink his three-foot putt, defender Shu Chong lost his composure and tried to play goalkeeper himself, catching the ball in flight to prefent it from going into the net. The referee was clearly not amused, and showed Chong the red card before awarding a PK to Jubilo. Toshiya Fujita took the honours, and gave Jubilo an early lead.

Though they now had a man advantage, Jubilo's shortage of experienced players let Shandong back into the match briefly. Rookie reserve back Taikai Uemoto committed terrible back pass and gifted Caisano with an unmarked shot from 20 meters. Shandong were back in the match at 1 - 1.

However, the veteran Nakayama put the result beyond doubt before the intermission, with two goals in little more than a minute. Jubilo's Montenegrin striker Aleksandr Zivkovic took a feed into the penalty area and drove on net, dropping the ball back for Nakayama as the defence closed in around him. Gon motored onto the slow-rolling ball and smashed it past the keeper for a 2-1 lead. On the very next sequence, Jubilo sent a lob into the box and it was poorly cleared by a Shandong defender, dropping at Fujita's feet just six meters outside the box. Fujita slid the ball to an unmarked Nakayama who fired it home

Shortly after the half, Gon got his hat trick on a perfect lead pass from Oku. Nakayama hesitated to pull the keeper off his line, and as the Shandong goalie leaned to the near post, Gon cut the ball back just inside the right upright. Zivkovic collected a tally of his own from the penalty spot, as the flagging Shandong defence pulled down reserve midfielder Shingo Kumabayashi, and Oku completed the scoring with a strike from the edge of the box. Shandong got a late goal on a free kick that Jubilo failed to cover, but by that time the result was already edited, notarised and on its way to the printers. With the win, Jubilo clinched a spot in the final four of the Asian Cup Championships, marking their third consecutive appearance in the final.

3 - 0 PSM Makasaar

With their victories this weekend, Jubilo have set up a comparatively easy contest with Kazakhstan's Irtysh Pavlodar, whilethe Suwon Bluewings will have to face the formidable Pirouzi of Iran in the semifinals.

2 - 2 BEC Tero Sasana

France 5 - 0 Japan

Playing on a wet and slippery field served to emphasise the one area where Japan are noticeably inferior to the French. While they displayed some good ball movement and reasonably competitive tactical play, on a physical level Japan was visibly outclassed. In this respect, perhaps the biggest disappointment was Shunsuke Nakamura, who was muscled off the ball every time he touched it by Marcel Desailly. The unequal contest was so distressing that Troussier pulled the Yokohama midfielder early on, to spare both Nakamura and the team further embarassment.

After the first two goals, Japan played France pretty even for about 45 minutes in the late first half and early second half. Hidetoshi Nakata had a couple of nice runs, rattling the post on one shot and forcing a pretty save by Ulrich Rame on a second. However, while Nakata put in a good individual performance, he was not working well with his teammates. On several late-first-half breaks, Nakata tried for force the ball upfield himself, ignoring wide-open teammates on the wing. Though Nakata was one of the few highlights for Japan, he needs to work harder to fit into the team flow, rather than trying to do it all on his own.

One other positive aspect of the match for Japan was that they played attacking football throughout, despite the lopsided score. If the team had been concerned about a "respectable" score line, they probably could have held the margin to 2-0 or at most 3-0. However, Japan continued pushing forward until about the final 10 minutes,when they finally seemed to lose heart. All three of France's second-half goals were created by counterattacks which caught Japan pushing forward too hard for a score of their own (actually, one goal came on a nice set play by France, but the corner kick that created it was on a counterattack by Henri that Toshihiro Hattori just barely managed to turn away).

All in all, the match was quite a disappointment. Troussier will need to rethink his strategy at midfield, since Nakamura's physical weakness on the ball is sure to be noticed and exploited by opponents in the future. One possible solution would be to use Shinji Ono, who inexplicably did not see any action at all in this match. This points up an interesting fact which occurred to me only after watching the tape of the match a second time. The two players who looked capable of holding their own against France, from a physical standpoint, were defensive midfielders Junichi Inamoto and Tomokazu Myojin. Yet both were substituted rather early in the match. Meanwhile Teruyoshi Ito, (whose play was so pathetic that I nearly posted this report without remembering he had been on the pitch) was left in for the full 90 minutes. While I have had reason to doubt Troussier's tactical abilities in the past, in this case it seems hard to believe that such poor player selection could be simply the result of a tactical blunder. The two players who were performing best, from a defensive standpoint, were both pulled early. Did Troussier deliberately throw in the towel before the end of the first half, in order to get a look at alternative players?

Another player who occasionally seemed out of his depth was defender Ryuzo Morioka. He was clearly unable to keep up with Henri in either speed or strength. Yuji Nakazawa seemed to do a better job when he came on late in the second half. Toshihiro Hattori looked the best of the three defenders, while Matsuda put in a decent performance, but made a few mental errors and misplays. Narazaki had a bad match, and clearly let his early first-half fumble affect him psychologically. He seemed tentative and unsteady for the rest of the contest.

Hiroshi Nanami looked good in the midfield, as did Myojin and Inamoto early on, but they were not on the same page as Nakata. While Nakata had a fine individual performance, and was the most effective player for Japan, he needs to work more with the team if he is to make a really effective contribution. His efforts were almost entirely individual, and his failure to find open teammates ended up making him as much of a weakness as a strength. None of the forwards looked effective in any sense of the word, and Troussier will need to spend some time rethinking his strategy up front. While ball motion in midfield is clearly Japan's forte, you still need to have a finisher in the front line if you expect to be competitive against a team like France (I wonder if its too late to consider Yutaka Tahara???)

Basically, all of Japan's players need to start working on strength training, though as mentioned earlier, the pitch conditions clearly dictated how much this disparity in strength affected the match. While Japan will no doubt have to feel very disappointed about this result, the key will be whether the team simply gets depressed, or whether they can consider the factors that made France the superior team, and try to address them.