The Japan National Team camp in Hannover ahead of the game against Mexico for the Confederations Cup started off quietly but smoothly. From what Miyamoto said in his website, the chill in the air (about 15 degreesC in the morning sessions) is a giant leap in climate from the hellish humidity and heat of Bangkok. Come to think of it, this team has been doing quite a bit of jet-setting -- from Japan to UAE to Bahrain to Bangkok to Japan and then to Germany. All inside two weeks or so. I wonder if they take melatonin to deal with the jetlag? (If you travel alot and need to fix jetlag quickly, melatonin is great -- it has to do with the way your body naturally wakes up to daylight.)
Anyway, the first few days the team trained with 21 of the 23 players -- Shunsuke Nakamura was still trying to heal his hip injury that he got at the beginning of the Bahrain game, which probably explains why he did not kick many of the free kicks in that game; and Teruyuki Moniwa was a day late flying to Germany as a last-minute call up to replace injured defender Nakazawa. The team finally all got together in Tuesday's training, and it looks like they are traininig quite ambitiously.
The defender who will most probably take the starting position in place of Nakazawa on the left is Takayuki Chano (Jubilo Iwata). I joked before that he is probably the most invisible player on the NT. Mostly because he has not had the opportunity to start much plus his overall visibility in the J-league is not that high. Not because he isn't any good -- I think it's more a case of not having the star-power like some of these other guys do. Regardless, the chances that Chano has gotten on the NT have been quite challenging games -- he started against Hungary and Czech Republic as right defender (3-back), but lost the starting position to Nakazawa in the next games against Iceland and England and onwards. He did not make it back to start until the Germany game (where he played as a centerback in a 4-back formation). Chano's play is characterized by a toughness -- he may not have the speed of Tsuboi or the height and power of Nakazawa. But this is a good opportunity for him to make himself known to Japanese supporters again.
The other bit of news trickling in from Germany is that Zico seems to be reverting back to a 3-4-2-1 system. So the team may look like this: Yanagisawa as sole forward with Nakamura and Ogasawara shadowing as offensive halfs. HNakata is back next to Fukunishi in defensive midfield. And as usual, Santos on left, Kaji on right; right defender Tanaka with Miyamoto controlling the back line in center with Chano on left. Since Chano is a different type of player than Nakazawa, I imagine the defenders and midfield are also making sure to confirm everyone's defensive responsibilities/tactics. This is what the team looked like in their last game against Bahrain, so it is not completely new for the players. Nakamura commented after the qualifiers that he really liked the 3-4-2-1 system, that it was easy to move around and create opportunities. And those of us who watched that Bahrain game did see a notable difference in the flow of Japan's attack compared to the previously. The forward probably has the most work to do figuring out how to best move -- and not only Yanagisawa, but Oguro and Tamada will probably also be used as subs in for this sytem. In a way, the 3-4-2-1 is a compromise between the 4-4-2 (better for offensive plays) and the 3-5-2 (more stable defensively). Japan tends to have a difficult time against Central/South American teams no matter who they are, and this group with Mexico and Brazil...will be a good experience for the team. Because Japan has already qualified, they can approach this tournament without thinking about any qualifiers ahead -- I hope they will play without overthinking, and play to their strengths. And enjoy the high caliber refereeing, the high quality pitch, and the cooler weather!
As he announced after the press conference incident where Zico took offense to collective laughter at forward Takayuki Suzuki, Zico is going to be responding to questions during pre and post game press conferences only with regard to the general media. He used to make himself completely available after each practice session...but alas, no more. Though the press is playing it down as an indication of Zico's nerves ahead of the Confederations Cup, I think they should think again. Zico will answer any challenging/tough question as long as it is put in a serious way, but he has reacted badly to the press being unnecessarily insulting to his players. Zico does of course attend the official press conferences the day ahead of any game, and of course after games he makes all the interviews. In a way, though I hate not getting any extra info, I think this is a good thing. Zico has kept a policy of complete openness for three years but the media ends up taking advantage and misquoting/blowing out of proportion what he says or does silly stunts like I addressed in this previous entry. Of course, if you want a private peek and see some fun photos of what goes on during the NT camps you can always check out Zico's blog which he constantly uploads with photos.
The players of course have been great about answering the press, and we've seen a number of interview clips -- nothing notable except for the usual "we're looking forward to playing against some of the best teams in the world" etc etc comments. The players and Zico also have been good about taking time after training to sign autographs for the small group of fans/observers who have come to watch, some Japanese some German.
German Press Scratch Heads over Japan
Some hilarious stuff has been coming out of the German press as well. In one paper, in a segment introducing the teams participating in the Confederations Cup, the Japan team has been quite messed up -- they got a number of names wrong, not to mention predicted a completely off formation, where they had forwards as midfielders and so on. I guess they got confused with all thes crazy Japanese names... I swear, sometimes you wonder how writers can make a living out of doing this if they can't even get the names straight. In another paper, Hide Nakata was labelled the "strangest player" -- apparently German media have been puzzled at the aloof attitude of Hide among his teammates. The paper said "he doesn't respond to questions from the media. and he doesn't warm up alongside his teammates." I guess they haven't been keeping up with what's going on -- Hide is just using his psychological tricks to bring a little tension and adrenaline into the team. In fact, JFA chair Kawabuchi has said that HNakata is using the bad-cop trick (which would make Miyamoto the good-cop?) to get a rise out of the team, light a fire under them.
In a recent on-camera interview on tv, HNakata even said that everything he does, how much he yells at whom, his choice of words, etc., it's pretty much his way of communicating that intagible battle-mode attitude to his team. A big part of what he believes is missing in the team right now, he's said, is a matter of attitude and spirit -- not technical things like strategy or formation (though of course those need to be improved too). Even captain Miyamoto said in an on-tv interview that this is HNakata's way of communicating with the team, his message if you will. And the team is completely aware of it -- which means that they get fired up without getting personally insulted or offended. Of course, this was not the case at the beginning of last year -- everyone was completely ticked off by HNakata, but that was back when the rest of the team lacked a certain amount of confidence and intra-team understanding, and players felt like they were just being talked-down to. Now the team knows that they have the right to talk back and argue, that it just goes towards building a stronger team.
Oguro Changes Number
If you are a fan of forward Oguro, you may want to note that he is going to be changing his NT jersey number from 31 to 16. He has had his eye on that number for a while now, and I guess this means he is now 'more-officially' part of the NT. He likes 16 because he is a great fan of ex-Hanshin Tiger (this is baseball we're talking about) Okada who is now the coach there, that was his number when he played.
Anyway, the first few days the team trained with 21 of the 23 players -- Shunsuke Nakamura was still trying to heal his hip injury that he got at the beginning of the Bahrain game, which probably explains why he did not kick many of the free kicks in that game; and Teruyuki Moniwa was a day late flying to Germany as a last-minute call up to replace injured defender Nakazawa. The team finally all got together in Tuesday's training, and it looks like they are traininig quite ambitiously.
The defender who will most probably take the starting position in place of Nakazawa on the left is Takayuki Chano (Jubilo Iwata). I joked before that he is probably the most invisible player on the NT. Mostly because he has not had the opportunity to start much plus his overall visibility in the J-league is not that high. Not because he isn't any good -- I think it's more a case of not having the star-power like some of these other guys do. Regardless, the chances that Chano has gotten on the NT have been quite challenging games -- he started against Hungary and Czech Republic as right defender (3-back), but lost the starting position to Nakazawa in the next games against Iceland and England and onwards. He did not make it back to start until the Germany game (where he played as a centerback in a 4-back formation). Chano's play is characterized by a toughness -- he may not have the speed of Tsuboi or the height and power of Nakazawa. But this is a good opportunity for him to make himself known to Japanese supporters again.
The other bit of news trickling in from Germany is that Zico seems to be reverting back to a 3-4-2-1 system. So the team may look like this: Yanagisawa as sole forward with Nakamura and Ogasawara shadowing as offensive halfs. HNakata is back next to Fukunishi in defensive midfield. And as usual, Santos on left, Kaji on right; right defender Tanaka with Miyamoto controlling the back line in center with Chano on left. Since Chano is a different type of player than Nakazawa, I imagine the defenders and midfield are also making sure to confirm everyone's defensive responsibilities/tactics. This is what the team looked like in their last game against Bahrain, so it is not completely new for the players. Nakamura commented after the qualifiers that he really liked the 3-4-2-1 system, that it was easy to move around and create opportunities. And those of us who watched that Bahrain game did see a notable difference in the flow of Japan's attack compared to the previously. The forward probably has the most work to do figuring out how to best move -- and not only Yanagisawa, but Oguro and Tamada will probably also be used as subs in for this sytem. In a way, the 3-4-2-1 is a compromise between the 4-4-2 (better for offensive plays) and the 3-5-2 (more stable defensively). Japan tends to have a difficult time against Central/South American teams no matter who they are, and this group with Mexico and Brazil...will be a good experience for the team. Because Japan has already qualified, they can approach this tournament without thinking about any qualifiers ahead -- I hope they will play without overthinking, and play to their strengths. And enjoy the high caliber refereeing, the high quality pitch, and the cooler weather!
As he announced after the press conference incident where Zico took offense to collective laughter at forward Takayuki Suzuki, Zico is going to be responding to questions during pre and post game press conferences only with regard to the general media. He used to make himself completely available after each practice session...but alas, no more. Though the press is playing it down as an indication of Zico's nerves ahead of the Confederations Cup, I think they should think again. Zico will answer any challenging/tough question as long as it is put in a serious way, but he has reacted badly to the press being unnecessarily insulting to his players. Zico does of course attend the official press conferences the day ahead of any game, and of course after games he makes all the interviews. In a way, though I hate not getting any extra info, I think this is a good thing. Zico has kept a policy of complete openness for three years but the media ends up taking advantage and misquoting/blowing out of proportion what he says or does silly stunts like I addressed in this previous entry. Of course, if you want a private peek and see some fun photos of what goes on during the NT camps you can always check out Zico's blog which he constantly uploads with photos.
The players of course have been great about answering the press, and we've seen a number of interview clips -- nothing notable except for the usual "we're looking forward to playing against some of the best teams in the world" etc etc comments. The players and Zico also have been good about taking time after training to sign autographs for the small group of fans/observers who have come to watch, some Japanese some German.
German Press Scratch Heads over Japan
Some hilarious stuff has been coming out of the German press as well. In one paper, in a segment introducing the teams participating in the Confederations Cup, the Japan team has been quite messed up -- they got a number of names wrong, not to mention predicted a completely off formation, where they had forwards as midfielders and so on. I guess they got confused with all thes crazy Japanese names... I swear, sometimes you wonder how writers can make a living out of doing this if they can't even get the names straight. In another paper, Hide Nakata was labelled the "strangest player" -- apparently German media have been puzzled at the aloof attitude of Hide among his teammates. The paper said "he doesn't respond to questions from the media. and he doesn't warm up alongside his teammates." I guess they haven't been keeping up with what's going on -- Hide is just using his psychological tricks to bring a little tension and adrenaline into the team. In fact, JFA chair Kawabuchi has said that HNakata is using the bad-cop trick (which would make Miyamoto the good-cop?) to get a rise out of the team, light a fire under them.
In a recent on-camera interview on tv, HNakata even said that everything he does, how much he yells at whom, his choice of words, etc., it's pretty much his way of communicating that intagible battle-mode attitude to his team. A big part of what he believes is missing in the team right now, he's said, is a matter of attitude and spirit -- not technical things like strategy or formation (though of course those need to be improved too). Even captain Miyamoto said in an on-tv interview that this is HNakata's way of communicating with the team, his message if you will. And the team is completely aware of it -- which means that they get fired up without getting personally insulted or offended. Of course, this was not the case at the beginning of last year -- everyone was completely ticked off by HNakata, but that was back when the rest of the team lacked a certain amount of confidence and intra-team understanding, and players felt like they were just being talked-down to. Now the team knows that they have the right to talk back and argue, that it just goes towards building a stronger team.
Oguro Changes Number
If you are a fan of forward Oguro, you may want to note that he is going to be changing his NT jersey number from 31 to 16. He has had his eye on that number for a while now, and I guess this means he is now 'more-officially' part of the NT. He likes 16 because he is a great fan of ex-Hanshin Tiger (this is baseball we're talking about) Okada who is now the coach there, that was his number when he played.
As you all know, the Confederations Cup tournament was basically created as a trial-run in preparation for the real thing -- the World Cup. And Germany seems to be on track and doing fine with regard to the infrastructure and organization so far. The only thing that is still in the air is how the referees will be implementing the new refereeing rules/standards. These standards will be tested out for the very first time in the world during the Confederations Cup.
Do any of you know the specifics of some of the major changes? If you do and would like to elaborate on my pathetic attempt, please do. (leave a comment!)
I'm not clear on all the specifics, but the two that got my attention are these: 1) players will be penalized if they do anything to slow the game down during stopped time. So let's say Japan wins a free kick, and Nakamura is standing there contemplating how to swing his foot and get a direct shot over the wall. He notices the ball's nub is not facing in the direction he wants, so he stoops to adjust it -- will the ref get on his back about slowing the game down? How does the rule apply to throw ins? 2) the off sides rule also sounds like it will get a little bit more complicated, and defenders who take a lot of care keeping a disciplined line may face some very narrow calls. I read one article a while ago, and can't seem to find it again.
Do any of you know the specifics of some of the major changes? If you do and would like to elaborate on my pathetic attempt, please do. (leave a comment!)
I'm not clear on all the specifics, but the two that got my attention are these: 1) players will be penalized if they do anything to slow the game down during stopped time. So let's say Japan wins a free kick, and Nakamura is standing there contemplating how to swing his foot and get a direct shot over the wall. He notices the ball's nub is not facing in the direction he wants, so he stoops to adjust it -- will the ref get on his back about slowing the game down? How does the rule apply to throw ins? 2) the off sides rule also sounds like it will get a little bit more complicated, and defenders who take a lot of care keeping a disciplined line may face some very narrow calls. I read one article a while ago, and can't seem to find it again.
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