I am extremely sorry for not posting these past couple weeks. I lost my best friend in an accident, and was out of the country to be by her side and attend to the inevitable aftermath of such a tragedy. I am still grieving, and though I just got back to Japan, it may take me a little while longer to recover emotionally. Please bear with me as I work my way back to my "normal" life again.
I do thank those of you who kept the chatter going in my absence with your comments. It was comforting to come back to the blog and see that you have been keeping things going-- thanks to all of you!
I did see the USA vs Japan game on video, and it was pretty much what I had anticipated. After a full week of intense physical training that was designed to push the players to the extremes of their fitness during the J1 break period, this first game against a top team like the US was going to be difficult, if not quite a mess.
The game itself was about 60 minutes of complete annihilation as the players had trouble focusing and made hundreds of errors in passing followed by a second half flurry of player changes and the chance for some of the newer members to play.
I will combine my brief thoughts about what was positive and negative about this game in my next entry ahead of the game against Finland this Saturday, but first I have a lovely treat from one of my good friends, Tony T.
Tony and I got to know each other through this blog last year. He has been a great friend of the blog, and I just want to thank him right now for sending me cheerful and engaging email throughout all these months. Thanks, Tony!
Living on the West Coast, Tony was able to fly to San Fran for this game between Japan and the USA, and has kindly contributed an entry for me to introduce here. He was also able to take some photos. It's always more fun to hear different voices on the blog (you must all get sick of mine all the time!), and I love being able to share these types of contributions from other Japan/J-league football fans.
Japan vs. U.S.
by Tony T
I was already losing interest in American football, but after witnessing the fiasco that was Superbowl XL, I can say with all confidence and sincerity that soccer (or commonly known as 'football') is and will always be my sport of choice to watch and play. Hailing from Seattle, I don't take in much soccer as it isn't very popular here. You hear more about angry soccer moms than you do about the World Cup draw. About three years ago on a visit to Japan, I somehow became a diehard Japanese football fan. (Since it's very challenging to follow the J. League from here, my interests have lied almost entirely with the National Team.) I haven't relented since.
And so as if by fate or a beckoning, my attention was directed back towards soccer once again merely a day after the Superbowl in anticipation of both the release of Winning Eleven 9 here in the States and my trip to San Francisco to attend my first ever National Team game just this past week. WE9 didn't disappoint, but the Friendly against the U.S. team told a different story altogether.
I travelled to San Francisco with a couple of friends and NT fans. On the night of the game, we took our time with our Thai food thinking that the game wouldn't generate much interest in the Bay Area. Upon our arrival at SBC park, we discovered we were sorely mistaken. There appeared to be just three entrances at the ballpark and all were densely crowded with spectators trying to filter through a handful of narrow turnstiles.
We saw parents and their children. We saw U.S. fans wearing red, but they looked suspiciously like the 49ers football fans. We saw Brazilian fans with their yellow and green--a few of them wore headbands bearing Kanji. (I'm sure Zico had some influence in their allegiance.) And to our delight we saw a healthy turnout of Japanese fans there as well. Basically, anyone who was not rooting for the U.S. was cheering on Japan. There was no grey area. Unfortunately where we sat, Nippon fans were few and the frigid winds of the Bay kept us feeling frozen throughout game. One factoid--the attendance was the highest ever for a U.S. soccer game in San Francisco at 37,365 spectators.
It was clearly evident that the U.S. team and their fans did not respect the Japan side and us fans. You saw it in the walkways and the bleachers. You saw it on the pitch and on the bench. And you couldn't avoid hearing it from the spectators and the players. Overall, the hosts showed no class on the pitch or in the bleachers. Pretty sad considering it was just a Friendly match. Then again, I didn't expect much from them anyway.
The Nippon fans were scattered, but two areas in particular provided most of the chants and drum beats. The signature chant performed at all home NT games was poorly imitated by the obnoxious U.S. fans about halfway through the game. Sadly, that made our most vocal fans very quiet for the rest of the match. The poor play of the team didn't help either. However, when Japan did score the two goals in the 2nd half we got a healthy applause from the fans in blue, yellow, and green throughout the stadium. It felt good to finally silence the U.S. fans.The first half can be summed up in one word--disarray. The starting line-up was as follows: G-Kawaguchi; DF-Tanaka, Miyamoto, Nakazawa; MF-Fukunishi, Endo, Kaji, Santos, Ono, Ogasawara; FW-Kubo. It was obviously an experiment starting off with a 3-6-1 formation, something I've never seen in my limited experience of Nippon football. The only time in the first half worth cheering for was literally just the first 7 minutes of the game. Beyond that, there was no possession. Passes were not sustained beyond two touches. Positioning was horrible. Offside calls were common. Kubo was left stranded on what little attack there was. The team lacked a clear, aggressive, and effective leader. I can't say Kubo did horribly. I fault the MFs play this time. Endo and Santos didn't play well. Ono and Fukunishi were non-factors. Ogasawara and Kaji were the only players with any composure and determination to attack. The DFs didn't stand up strong enough against the U.S. attacks. They seemed to be playing on their heels, expecting the DMFs to perhaps give some support.
Kawaguchi looked too cold to be aggressive and react quickly to the ball as he usually does. He seemed to lack concentration, almost preoccupied. From where I was sitting, he didn't appear as vocal as he usually is either. The team lacked hunger for the net in the first 60 minutes and they lacked leadership. Above all, they lacked teamwork.
Those issues continue to be Japan's biggest problems--leadership and finishing. Leadership doesn't have to be vocal. It can most
certainly be expressed through action as was the case in the good
plays demonstrated after the 60th minute. I'm sure a familiar
formation helped, but Japan suddenly played a different game around the 65th minute. Kaji stepped it up, perhaps in response to Komano's challenge for the same position in recent games. Sato played with zest and scrappiness that is reminiscent of Oguro's play. In my opinion, Hasebe's 55th minute substitution locked down the defense much better. The entry of Abe, Motoyama, and Maki didn't make a huge impact, but they definitely didn't disrupt the revitalization of the team's play in the 2nd half.
Every team in the world is a work in progress. Any Cup qualified team would be naive and arrogant to think they're ready to take on the tournament. I'm not worried about Japan. I think Zico will do a decent enough job in preparing for the World Cup and Asian Cup this year. It will also depend on the players' response and desire of course. I'm glad this game carried on the way it did this early in the year. It will provide many valuable lessons. This game will also expose the weaknesses and the weak players. I only hope Zico and his staff will be able to identify and remedy them in time for the Cups.
This was the first time I ever attended a sports event rooting for the visiting team. Any "visitor" can expect haggling from the home side fans. That's expected. However, with the humility of non-Americans and the typical arrogance the world comes to expect of Americans, the atmosphere of the "friendly" match seemed otherwise. Of course not all U.S. fans were obnoxious, but all it takes is about half of them to make it seem that way. Even parents got in on the boasting. It didn't faze any of us Nippon fans though. We all continued to wear and wave our Samurai Blue even long after the game as the Americans taunted all the way to their cars. In one particular instance after the game, a group of Japanese fans were trying to take a picture in front of the Willie Mays sculpture while holding the Japanese flag.
One very large caucasian male laboriously climbed up next to them waving a U.S. flag and kept on leaning into their picture while draping and wrapping his flag around a Japanese guy in the group. The Japanese group tried about six shots of that pose before giving up. The group looked a little flustered but went about their way. I witnessed the whole thing and I was very annoyed to say the least. It was just so typical. I don't know which would bring me more joy--seeing the U.S. team get humiliated in their group or seeing Japan win the World Cup.
I wish Japan could play them again later this year as I'm more than confident they could beat the U.S. Japan may not possess the size, but at their best, Japan is better organized and more skillful than the U.S. side. Japan played poor because they lacked overall chemistry, not because the U.S. team played better. The U.S. coach Bruce Arena reminds me of the burly karate coach in Karate Kid. His cockiness is in sync with his players' as it is more than evident in their interviews and play on the pitch. With too many examples to recall on paper, Donovan, Pope, Dempsey, and Twellman showed to care more about entertaining and showboating than playing a soccer game with their teammates, with some of those occasions making them look quite stupid with an errant pass or by simply tripping without any defensive pressure. I took those opportunities to heckle right back. That was fun. Sure, several of them can play a decent game, but in the end, only the best t-e-a-m is victorious.
The day after the game my friend bumped into Tsuboi while shopping in the Diesel store in downtown San Francisco. Unfortunately, I was elsewhere. They had a brief but memorable conversation. No autographs. Just good wishes and nothing but r e s p e c t exchanged between them.
