Japan

Scrumpet

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How is it possible that Mad Winger hasn't made this thread yet?

Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Reds), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo)

Defenders: Masahiko Inoha (Jubilo Iwata), Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Schalke), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Hiroki Sakai (Hannover), Gotoku Sakai (Stuttgart)

Midfielders: Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Makoto Hasebe (Nuremberg), Toshihiro Aoyama (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka)

Forwards: Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Yoshito Okubo (Kawasaki Frontale), Shinji Okazaki (Mainz), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United), Hiroshi Kiyotake (Nuremberg), Yoichiro Kakitani (Cerezo Osaka), Manabu Saito (Yokohama F Marinos), Yuya Osako (1860 Munich)

June 14th: vs Ivory Coast
June 19th: vs Greece
June 24th: vs Colombia

Group C is one of the more interesting groups. All 4 teams have a realistic chance of qualifying I'd say.
 
Who are their best players, besides the obvious two in Kagawa and Honda?
 
_MTR_ said:
Nagatomo, Okazaki and Kiyotake.
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Doesn't he not only play but often start for Inter? Don't know much about the other two. Who do they play for and how good are they?

Heard only good things about this Japan side and I think they were the first team to actually qualify for the World Cup besides the hosts, but that may be more down to the way the qualification system is completed over in Asia but still a worthy mention. Let's just see if they can replicate it on the big stage.
 
@Señor
Yes, Nagatomo is starter for Inter Milan.
Okazaki scored 15 Bundesliga goals this season playing for Mainz and Kiyotake got relegated with Nurnberg, but he had two great seasons for them. Bags of assists. Shame he's actually attacking midfielder like Kagawa and Honda. Another player worth mentioning is Uchida, starting right back for Schalke 04.

I bet that their starting eleven will be


Kawashima
Uchida Konno Yoshida Nagatomo
Hasebe Endo
Honda Kiyotake Kagawa
Okazaki
​

Central defense the worst part of the team. Also Nagatomo is really attacking fullback, will need a lot of cover from Hasebe or Endo. Again, Hosogai would do better job than old Endo.
Japan would really do with 5 at at the back, but they lack central defenders.
 
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Endo shouldnt be ignored as one of Japans best players, times caught up to him, but he is an excellent player. He really should have played in Europe, he could of had a decent career there.

I havent seen Kiyotake play a good game for Japan.

Kakitani and Okazaki are lesser players to watch out for, I believe Kakitani will start ahead of Kiyotake, but will know more when the next friendlies played. Kakitani has looked the part in his last few games for Japan.
 
AkaAkuma said:
Endo shouldnt be ignored as one of Japans best players, times caught up to him, but he is an excellent player. He really should have played in Europe, he could of had a decent career there.

I havent seen Kiyotake play a good game for Japan.

Kakitani and Okazaki are lesser players to watch out for, I believe Kakitani will start ahead of Kiyotake, but will know more when the next friendlies played. Kakitani has looked the part in his last few games for Japan.
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Maybe because he's surrounded by even better playmakers like Kagawa? It's quite obvious I made this analysis basing of that I've seen in Europe so I might have had omitted some players playing in Japan.
 
_MTR_ said:
Maybe because he's surrounded by even better playmakers like Kagawa? It's quite obvious I made this analysis basing of that I've seen in Europe so I might have had omitted some players playing in Japan.
Click to expand...

I got that feeling from your posts, has Hasabe played much this season?

I watch most of Japans games, Kiyotake doesnt really fit for me and is generally seen as the 4th attacking midfield option.

I expect Japan to line up as:

Kawashima
Uchida Konno Yoshida. Nagatomo
Endo. Hasabe
Okazaki. Honda. Kagawa.
Kakitani

With Okazaki and Kakitani interchanging positions.

There are 3 friendlies prior to the WC, so will have a better idea of the starting line up then.
 
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Scrumpet said:
How is it possible that Mad Winger hasn't made this thread yet?
Click to expand...

I've been too lazy:lol: Thanks for doing it, though!

It's gonna be exciting to see what Zaccheoni does with the lineup this time.

Kagawa is pretty much guaranteed to start on the left, with Honda in the center. But who will play on the right flank? Kiyotake has tried the position several times, but it's never really worked out. Okazaki has usually been the player to feature on the right flank, and it's worked out well, but will Zaccheroni dare to do it now? Okazaki has had a brilliant season in the Bundesliga as a center forward, which incidentally is one of the positions where Japan are the weakest.

The center midfield is also exciting. Endo and Hasebe are the usual starters, but the latter has been injured for nearly half a year now. Captain or not; he's bound to be rusty! Endo is class, but he's still 34. All in all, I think there's gonna be a lot of rotation in center midfield. Yamaguchi and Aoyama can both expect a lot of playtime.

Defense is also a bit of a head-twister. Uchida has been injured since February, but he must be getting better, seeing as he's been called to the world cup. But both Hiroki and Gotoku Sakai have played regularly all season, so I wouldn't be surprised if one of them took the spot from Uchida. As for central defense, I think it's about time Japan go for someone else than Konno. It's just not working out.

All in all, it's impossible to predict Japan's first XI. The only players who are sure to start are; Kawashima, Yoshida, Nagatomo, Honda, Kagawa and Okazaki. And we don't even know the position for the latter.
 
AkaAkuma said:
Endo shouldnt be ignored as one of Japans best players, times caught up to him, but he is an excellent player. He really should have played in Europe, he could of had a decent career there.

I havent seen Kiyotake play a good game for Japan.

Kakitani and Okazaki are lesser players to watch out for, I believe Kakitani will start ahead of Kiyotake, but will know more when the next friendlies played. Kakitani has looked the part in his last few games for Japan.
Click to expand...

I have a lot of time for Endo. Brilliant playmaker and really controls the tempo of the game for the likes of Kagawa and Honda to flourish further forward.
 
Osako should start ahead of Kakitani. Osako has continued his good play from last season and played well for 1860 Munich. Kakitani on the other hand, hasn't performed well for Cerezo this season. His general play has been lacking in influence, and he hasn't been as clinical as last season. Osako also took a risk to leave the J League and prove himself in the German 2nd division. I feel like he should be rewarded for that decision. Not sure how Zacc sees it though as I felt Kakitani was slightly preferred to Osako for the starting striker role despite both being equals in the J League and for the national team last year. These upcoming friendlies should tell us who will be Japan's starter.
 
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Honestly, I don't expect them to be ahead of Colombia and Cote d'Ivoire.
 
Scarecrow said:
Honestly, I don't expect them to be ahead of Colombia and Cote d'Ivoire.
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I would have agreed with that, but with Falcao most probably unfit after his injury - Japan do have a genuine chance. I believe it will be Ivory Coast and one more team who qualify. I do not think Greece have the required quality to progress, but hell I said that back in '04 as well.
 
The
CurryCantona said:
I would have agreed with that, but with Falcao most probably unfit after his injury - Japan do have a genuine chance. I believe it will be Ivory Coast and one more team who qualify. I do not think Greece have the required quality to progress, but hell I said that back in '04 as well.
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Columbia game is last, which I believe benefits Japan. Realistically, I think Japan need a win against Ivory coast in the first game.
 
I like Japan, the way they play is so special. They dont play the physical game, or game based on speed/power. They have lots of technique and pass the ball very quickly. I think they will go through because their group is not that difficult.
 
Midnight1811 said:
Does Kagawa play in the no.10 position for Japan or out on the left. He did awesome in the confed cup last year.
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He plays on the left because Japan doesn't have any good wingers.

Japan's default starting XI has been like this for a while now:

------------- Kawashima -----------
Uchida - Yoshida - Konno - Nagatomo
--------- Hasebe - Endo ------------
---- Okazaki - Honda - Kagawa -----
------------ <striker> --------------

Nagatomo is an extremely offensive fullback, which means that Kagawa almost always has a player making overlapping runs, both to his left and right. This combined with the fact that Japan play attacking pass and move football, makes Kagawa work almost better on the left "wing" than in the AM position. Honda isn't a better no.10, but he's a significantly worse winger. Thus Japan line up like this, for the sake of balance.
 
Scarecrow said:
Honestly, I don't expect them to be ahead of Colombia and Cote d'Ivoire.
Click to expand...
Colombia not sure, but I expect them to get past Cote d'Ivoire. They have a lot of quality in their team and have played some great football in the qualifiers and some friendlies after that. If they play their game they should qualify with minimal problems.

They seem very underated but they are my pick for this WC's dark horse and they could upset some of the bigger nations. I've got a strong affinity towards them so hope they do well.

Might be worth it to try Okazaki upfront in my opinion, he has had a tremendous season for Mainz and is a great goalscoring threat.
 
Ruht said:
they could upset some of the bigger nations.
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Definitely!

I know it's just friendlies, but since the last World Cup, Japan has beaten: Argentina, France, Belgium, Ghana, and the same Paraguay team that made the quarter finals in WC2010. They also managed a draw against Netherlands fairy recently, and frankly, Japan was the better team in that game. The same goes for the game they lost 4-3 to Italy last summer. Japan was completely running the show. Japan's U23 also beat Spain's U23 in the Olympics.

The only team that has managed to beat Japan comfortably in the last 4 years, is Brazil. This is Japan's nightmare opponent. Physically strong, aggressive, and very quick/deadly on the counter. This is the way to beat Japan. Parking the bus will do you no good. Trying to play tippy-tappy football like Spain will do you no good either. You need to break them down at the center of the pitch, and then counter them to death.

If Japan can avoid Brazil and Germany, then I think they're good enough on paper to reach the semis. They still need a couple of big wins, but judging by their friendlies over the last 4 years, I think it's evident that Japan has what it takes to beat even the top teams.

If Japan '10 could reach the round of 16, then Japan '14 should be able to at least do the same. Their group back then was tougher on paper than this group, if we also consider that Japan was a much worse team in 2010.
 
Mad Winger said:
Definitely!

I know it's just friendlies, but since the last World Cup, Japan has beaten: Argentina, France, Belgium, Ghana, and the same Paraguay team that made the quarter finals in WC2010. They also managed a draw against Netherlands fairy recently, and frankly, Japan was the better team in that game. The same goes for the game they lost 4-3 to Italy last summer. Japan was completely running the show. Japan's U23 also beat Spain's U23 in the Olympics.

The only team that has managed to beat Japan comfortably in the last 4 years, is Brazil. This is Japan's nightmare opponent. Physically strong, aggressive, and very quick/deadly on the counter. This is the way to beat Japan. Parking the bus will do you no good. Trying to play tippy-tappy football like Spain will do you no good either. You need to break them down at the center of the pitch, and then counter them to death.

If Japan can avoid Brazil and Germany, then I think they're good enough on paper to reach the semis. They still need a couple of big wins, but judging by their friendlies over the last 4 years, I think it's evident that Japan has what it takes to beat even the top teams.

If Japan '10 could reach the round of 16, then Japan '14 should be able to at least do the same. Their group back then was tougher on paper than this group, if we also consider that Japan was a much worse team in 2010.
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They may have done well in those friendlies, but they went through a period where they were just awful. Their qualification wasn't impressive, and their entire 2013 was awful. Three losses in the Confederations Cup. Only 1 win in their last 3 qualification matches and that win against Iraq was a display of horrible boring football. Their friendlies up until the Netherlands and Belgium were bad too. They lost to Uruguay, Bulgaria, Belarus, and Serbia. Their 2-1 win over Canada was a bad reflection on Japan as well because they struggled despite Canada being a really weak team. Their only comfortable wins came against Ghana and Guatemala, who are also a really weak team that failed to even make to the last 6 of CONCACAF.

I'll be rooting for them as I follow the J League and the national team and I'm glad they did well against the Netherlands and Belgium. Maybe they can continue on that form, but it's important to not forget how poor they were for most of 2013.
 
@In Rainbows

They weren't great in the qualifications, but that might have something to do with the fact that they aced it early on, and were more or less secured a World Cup spot. Most teams start to chill out in such situations, just look at Bayern in the Bundesliga.

It's easy to look at the Confederations Cup, but let's try to look at the story behind the results. Japan was the team that spent the most time travelling and had the most games before the actual tournament. This gave them a huge disadvantage. In the first game, they met Brazil, which like I said is their nightmare opponent. Brazil also won the whole tournament comfortably, so blaming Japan for not getting that win, seems pointless. Against Italy Japan was easily the best team. I still don't understand how they possibly managed to lose that game, because their attacking football was some of the best I've seen from a national team. After the unfortunate loss to Italy, they had no chance of getting out of the group. The went to the Mexico game completely defeated. It didn't even look like they were trying.

It's true that 2013 has been an especially bad year for Japan, but that doesn't erase their form in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Let's not forget that they did qualify to the WC easily, and then went on to beat Beligum and Ghana, and drew against Netherlands.

The games against Netherlands and Belgium are Japan's most recent games, so if anything, I'd judge them based on these games. These are two of the best national teams out there, and Japan looked better than both of them.

Before WC2010, Japan had an absolutely horrible set of friendlies. If I'm not mistaken, they lost/drew 8 games in a row. Despite this, they comfortably made it through their group, which was tougher than their current group, all things considered.

The current Japan team has great chemistry, and several good results to back it up. Once Zaccheroni found "his" team early on, it's remained fairly unchanged. The players therefore have great understanding. All in all, we're probably looking at the best Japanese national team ever. I fully expect them to get to the knockout stages. A brief spell of bad games combined with horrible luck in 2013 isn't going to change that.
 
The up coming friendlies should go along way to showing how Japan will do at the world cup.

People are getting abit ahead of themselves. Japan will do very well to get out of the group. They can play very nice football, but Ive seen them be completely overrun through the midfield.

The game against Uruguay was watched through fingers, Suarez, most likely at his peak just ran and ran at the defence, they looked 2nd best. Also a below strength Ghana ran hard and were physical, Japan couldnt dominant that team.

Saying that, I feel positive, its good weather in Japan now - the players will be happy to be home after a difficult season for most. They can get their focus together and come out fighting as a team.
 
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Midnight1811 said:
Does Kagawa play in the no.10 position for Japan or out on the left. He did awesome in the confed cup last year.
Click to expand...

Kagawa plays on the left, connecting with Honda throughout the game. You could compare it to his play with Mata, but there is more understaning between Honda and Kagawa - Honda probably more closesly resembles Rooneys style of play. This partnership is key for Japan.

Excuse the pun, but Honda drives the team. He has a lot of determination, which is why he starts in the middle rather than Kagawa.
 
Any team that can pull off such a goal against Netherlands, without looking out of place, has what it takes to go far in the World Cup:

 
Mad Winger said:
@In Rainbows

They weren't great in the qualifications, but that might have something to do with the fact that they aced it early on, and were more or less secured a World Cup spot. Most teams start to chill out in such situations, just look at Bayern in the Bundesliga.

It's easy to look at the Confederations Cup, but let's try to look at the story behind the results. Japan was the team that spent the most time travelling and had the most games before the actual tournament. This gave them a huge disadvantage. In the first game, they met Brazil, which like I said is their nightmare opponent. Brazil also won the whole tournament comfortably, so blaming Japan for not getting that win, seems pointless. Against Italy Japan was easily the best team. I still don't understand how they possibly managed to lose that game, because their attacking football was some of the best I've seen from a national team. After the unfortunate loss to Italy, they had no chance of getting out of the group. The went to the Mexico game completely defeated. It didn't even look like they were trying.

It's true that 2013 has been an especially bad year for Japan, but that doesn't erase their form in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Let's not forget that they did qualify to the WC easily, and then went on to beat Beligum and Ghana, and drew against Netherlands.

The games against Netherlands and Belgium are Japan's most recent games, so if anything, I'd judge them based on these games. These are two of the best national teams out there, and Japan looked better than both of them.

Before WC2010, Japan had an absolutely horrible set of friendlies. If I'm not mistaken, they lost/drew 8 games in a row. Despite this, they comfortably made it through their group, which was tougher than their current group, all things considered.

The current Japan team has great chemistry, and several good results to back it up. Once Zaccheroni found "his" team early on, it's remained fairly unchanged. The players therefore have great understanding. All in all, we're probably looking at the best Japanese national team ever. I fully expect them to get to the knockout stages. A brief spell of bad games combined with horrible luck in 2013 isn't going to change that.
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Qualifying in that manner isn't impressive when you consider the amount of talent Japan had compared to their opposition. Japan scraped by Oman with a 2-1 win, and could have qualified by winning the next match against Jordan, but failed with a 1-2 loss. They ended up tying Australia because Honda scored a penalty in the 90th minute. Japan basically started the qualifier like they were supposed to, but finished in a rather bad fashion.

I feel like I'm nitpicking when it comes to the Confederations Cup, but they should have done better against Mexico who was in really bad form that eventually led to the sacking of the manager. Like Japan, Mexico also lost their first two games and had nothing to play for in the final match.

It wasn't horrible luck that Japan lost those games in 2013. It was evident it was going to happen with how badly they were performing. Luck is a poor excuse, especially if you had watched every match. I remember being frustrated at Maeda, and the defensive errors committed by Yoshida, Kawashima, Uchida, and Konno. The Japanese fans were frustrated at Zacc and his reluctance to try different players. It was evident that Maeda wasn't cutting it, while Kakitani, Kudo, and Osako were tearing up the J League despite being younger. The players were also frustrated at the way there playing. Their interviews were a direct example of that.

It's especially worrying that Kagawa and Honda are probably in their weakest form going into the World Cup. However, the opposite is true of Okazaki and Nagatomo. Two players who are hugely influential to Japan. Endo and Hasebe have their work cut out for them going up against Yaya.

In the end, I too believe the recent results against the Netherlands and Belgium should bring the optimism back. I just feel that Japan aren't guaranteed to be going through. It will be tough for them and it will be great if they end up finishing 2nd. I'll be cheering for them every step of the way. Hopefully they continue their great attacking displays shown against the Netherlands and Belgium.


I'm a bit disappointed that Usami didn't make the team. His injury caused him to lose a lot of playing time and he couldn't build on his excellent season in the J2, that reminded me of Kagawa's time in the J2. His dribbling offers something the other attackers lack, which could prove helpful in the WC. Minamino is another player that could open up defenses, but he still has to develop a bit. His dribbling and his physicality is a huge asset for Japan's future.
 
Last edited:
In Rainbows said:
Qualifying in that manner isn't impressive when you consider the amount of talent Japan had compared to their opposition. Japan scraped by Oman with a 2-1 win, and could have qualified by winning the next match against Jordan, but failed with a 1-2 loss. They ended up tying Australia because Honda scored a penalty in the 90th minute. Japan basically started the qualifier like they were supposed to, but finished in a rather bad fashion.

I feel like I'm nitpicking when it comes to the Confederations Cup, but they should have done better against Mexico who was in really bad form that eventually led to the sacking of the manager. Like Japan, Mexico also lost their first two games and had nothing to play for in the final match.

It wasn't horrible luck that Japan lost those games in 2013. It was evident it was going to happen with how badly they were performing. Luck is a poor excuse, especially if you had watched every match. I remember being frustrated at Maeda, and the defensive errors committed by Yoshida, Kawashima, Uchida, and Konno. The Japanese fans were frustrated at Zacc and his reluctance to try different players. It was evident that Maeda wasn't cutting it, while Kakitani, Kudo, and Osako were tearing up the J League despite being younger. The players were also frustrated at the way there playing. Their interviews were a direct example of that.

It's especially worrying that Kagawa and Honda are probably in their weakest form going into the World Cup. However, the opposite is true of Okazaki and Nagatomo. Two players who are hugely influential to Japan. Endo and Hasebe have their work cut out for them going up against Yaya.

In the end, I too believe the recent results against the Netherlands and Belgium should bring the optimism back. I just feel that Japan aren't guaranteed to be going through. It will be tough for them and it will be great if they end up finishing 2nd. I'll be cheering for them every step of the way. Hopefully they continue their great attacking displays shown against the Netherlands and Belgium.


I'm a bit disappointed that Usami didn't make the team. His injury caused him to lose a lot of playing time and he couldn't build on his excellent season in the J2, that reminded me of Kagawa's time in the J2. His dribbling offers something the other attackers lack, which could prove helpful in the WC. Minamino is another player that could open up defenses, but he still has to develop a bit. His dribbling and his physicality is a huge asset for Japan's future.
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I'd forgotten about Yaya, thats going to be a tough contest.
 
In Rainbows said:
It wasn't horrible luck that Japan lost those games in 2013.
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I never said so either. It was bad games combined with bad luck. The Italy game is the best(only?) example of this. Had they won that game(which they really should have), then they would have gone to the Mexico game full of confidence, and most likely gone through.


In Rainbows said:
I just feel that Japan aren't guaranteed to be going through
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I agree that they're not guaranteed. As good as they are, Columbia and Ivory Coast are still strong opponents. But I think it's fair to say that failure to go through would be a massive disappointment for Japan. It's pretty much the opposite of 2010, where no one thought that Japan had what it takes.
 
Love watching Japan play. If they get out of the group, they could surprise anyone. They move the ball so well.
 
Mad Winger said:
He plays on the left because Japan doesn't have any good wingers.

Japan's default starting XI has been like this for a while now:

------------- Kawashima -----------
Uchida - Yoshida - Konno - Nagatomo
--------- Hasebe - Endo ------------
---- Okazaki - Honda - Kagawa -----
------------ <striker> --------------

Nagatomo is an extremely offensive fullback, which means that Kagawa almost always has a player making overlapping runs, both to his left and right. This combined with the fact that Japan play attacking pass and move football, makes Kagawa work almost better on the left "wing" than in the AM position. Honda isn't a better no.10, but he's a significantly worse winger. Thus Japan line up like this, for the sake of balance.
Click to expand...


Ahhh I see. Could that work at United ? If we sign Shaw as a LB, and have Mata as No.10 ? With Shaw doing that Nagatomo does, whilst Kags plays on the 'wing' ?

Mad Winger said:
Any team that can pull off such a goal against Netherlands, without looking out of place, has what it takes to go far in the World Cup:

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My word. What a goal. When was that mate ?

Eric'sCollar said:
Love watching Japan play. If they get out of the group, they could surprise anyone. They move the ball so well.
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They have a relatively tough group, but because of Kagawa I'll be eager for them to do well.
 
Midnight1811 said:
Ahhh I see. Could that work at United ? If we sign Shaw as a LB, and have Mata as No.10 ? With Shaw doing that Nagatomo does, whilst Kags plays on the 'wing' ?
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Nagatomo is much better offensively than Shaw, but the latter is still young and learning, so it could definitely work out. If Van Gaal gives him freedom to roam offensively, then it will benefit Kagawa a lot.

It's worth mentioning that Endo plays a fairly central part in this ecosystem as well. He combines really well with Kagawa and Honda. We definitely need to sign a mobile, offensive, pass-and-move midfielder this summer, and I think we will. Someone like Fabregas or Gündogan would be ideal.


Midnight1811 said:
My word. What a goal. When was that mate ?
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I'm on my way out, so I don't have time to check the exact date. But I think it was in October.
 
Friendly match vs Cyprus this coming tuesday, should be a decent game.
 
In Rainbows said:
They may have done well in those friendlies, but they went through a period where they were just awful. Their qualification wasn't impressive, and their entire 2013 was awful. Three losses in the Confederations Cup. Only 1 win in their last 3 qualification matches and that win against Iraq was a display of horrible boring football. Their friendlies up until the Netherlands and Belgium were bad too. They lost to Uruguay, Bulgaria, Belarus, and Serbia. Their 2-1 win over Canada was a bad reflection on Japan as well because they struggled despite Canada being a really weak team. Their only comfortable wins came against Ghana and Guatemala, who are also a really weak team that failed to even make to the last 6 of CONCACAF.

I'll be rooting for them as I follow the J League and the national team and I'm glad they did well against the Netherlands and Belgium. Maybe they can continue on that form, but it's important to not forget how poor they were for most of 2013.
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Do you watch the J League on Japanese tv? Any shows you'd recommend?
 
In Rainbows said:
...as well because they struggled despite Canada being a really weak team. Their only comfortable wins came against Ghana and Guatemala, who are also a really weak team that failed to even make to the last 6 of CONCACAF..
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To be fair that was against Ghana's a 3rd string side so experimental Ghanaian commentators were struggling to identify some players. I wouldn't take much from that game.
 
Defense has been a problem for Japan but they look better than before with Morishige at CB and Yamagichi at CM.
 
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