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I thought Australia deserved at least a draw there, that last 10 minutes was a real surprise though! Miyamoto seemed pretty shellshocked in that post match interview.

 

What kind of Japanese language editorial is it getting?

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I enjoyed the commentary, especially the way the bloke talked about the Australian players when they were with the ball.

 

I'm sure I heard:

 

"Kennedy 194cm"

 

more than 10 times when Kennedy got the ball. Not just "Kennedy", you see, but "Kennedy 194cm". lol.gif Hilarious.

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 Quote:
Originally posted by rach:

What kind of Japanese language editorial is it getting?
One article I read focused mainly on Zicos lack of plan. They compared it to Hiddink who was quoted as saying that without a plan you can't overcome various situations. They pointed out that Zico has tried to create freedom and creativity in the Japanese team, so that they can think for themselves on the field without excessive instruction from the bench. They said that this hasn't happened sufficiently for Japan to be able to succeed with that strategy on the world stage. It also pointed out that Japan went in with a setup of 3-5-2, rather than their usual 3-4-3, and were trying to focus on shutting down the Aussies strengths rather than focus on and play to their own. They said it was a rather pessimistic approach.
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The Asahi Shimbun today just has pictures of the good bits and a technical drawing of the Japan goal.

 

I thought the Japanese goal was hilarious. A skinny Japanese bloke bundling a 15-stone keeper off the ball. It looked like something from the 1970s. Australia knocked it about well though, and certainly deserved at least one goal.

 

Zico will have to tell the lads to stop hitting passes and crosses to non-existent players. It's almost as if the players believe that the commentators when they say that the ball flying anywhere near the opposition box is a "chance". After working opportunities, they just waste them with a pointless final ball.

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i agree mr.wiggles about the pointless crosses. what a waste. they also lost the ball on passes in the aussie box so many times. Japan needs guys with a 'score at any cost' attitude.

On the news this morning they were criticizing zico's substitions

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The Japanese were pretty wasteful. There were a couple of times when they clearly had a break on Aust and simply choked in front of the goal.

 

Not that I know much about these things but the Aust attack looked pretty chaotic and ad hoc. Watching it I couldn't help thinking that against a better organised side, we're gonna get spanked, hard.

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Choking in front of goal is a problem they have had for a long time. It's almost as if they are scared to try and shoot.

 

Perhaps they want to share the ball with everyone on the team before scoring so that they can all share in the group goal. ;\)

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Australia had some really dangerous attacks with kewell carrying the ball up the middle and shooting. other than that their attacks looked disorganized. I think a better team would shut down that open space in the middle where kewell was operating. but I'm sure Hiddink has a plan for everything so they'll adapt.

 

I'm getting warmed up for the 1am France game thumbsup.gif

tomorrow's classes are going to be pretty brutal with no sleep but it's a matter of duty!

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Australia had some really dangerous attacks with kewell carrying the ball up the middle and shooting. other than that their attacks looked disorganized. I think a better team would shut down that open space in the middle where kewell was operating. but I'm sure Hiddink has a plan for everything so they'll adapt.

 

I'm getting warmed up for the 1am France game thumbsup.gif

tomorrow's classes are going to be pretty brutal with no sleep but it's a matter of duty!

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He changed the game though didnt he, Kennedy.

 

I think Japan need some shooting practice and more bottle to just take a shot when in doubt.

 

Brazil is the next game I believe, AKA: Japan are out.

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Amazing how it changed at the end, I think everyone thought it was 1-0 til the end. Seemed to change when Kennedy 194cm came on.

 

I enjoyed watching it with my Japanese friends, though they were pretty quiet at the end there. It was a like a sly, soro soro and slinking off lol.gif

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Had a top night watching it amongst a load of blue fans here also. Actually, arrived at the venue intending to support Japan just to piss off a mate, but when the manager told us that if we are supporting OZ we cannot wear any Oz colours or cheer loudly for that team, I quite quickly changed my mind and deffered to supporting the outlaws!!! Needless to say we put on as much yreen and yellow (sorry Australian gold!) as we could find and shouted at every possible moment. up until the last 10 mins the Japanese fans loved the banter!! Then it was two versus the masses!! lol.gif clap.gif

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If you have world class players than Zico's strategy of letting the players think for themselves may work (Brasil). But for most other teams it is structure, stability and hard work that pays off (Germany).

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I only know of 2 players on the US team and know most of the J-players. Pretty sad actually. Czech is pretty damn strong though arent they? Spanked 3-0... ouch. I dont even bother betting on the US as I already know theyre gonna lose (lets be honest)

 

you watch the game IRLBB?

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194cm is tallish but not THAT tall for a professional sportsman. There are heaps of them in Aussie rules and Rugby.

 

Is 194 unusually tall for a top level football (soccer) player? If so what do those guys do then if they don't play football?

 

The thing that gets me about professional team sports is the inability of most of the players to work it out for themselves. They have trouble following the game plan - like they've never had to get the ball and kick it to a team mate before! You would think that playing at the highest levels and having played the game for most of their lives, marking their opponents and filling in gaps etc., would be second nature.

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1 thing is confusing me.

 

I have read somewhere that Japan was complaining about the heat during their game. But wasn't Japan stifflinly hot and humid for the last World Cup in, er, Japan?

 

Surely that is not on the list of possible excuses for Japan?

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Not sure where this is coming from a friend sent it on but....

 

My top 10 World Cup viewing gripes

 

All in all, a jolly good start to a World Cup for us viewers. Goals aplenty, a minor shock courtesy of Trinidad & Tobago and, England's notwithstanding, few games to send you to sleep while gawping at the plasma. So, mustn't grumble really ... but grumble one shall. Here are my top 10 World Cup viewing gripes:

 

1) Shadows

Not the backing band for Cliff Richard and creators of Apache, possibly the finest twangy guitar and tribal rhythm tune ever written, but rather the dark, colder bits that appear when the sun comes out. A combination of lots of sunshine and posh stadium design has conspired to make watching the World Cup needlessly stressful. During Holland's game against Serbia & Montenegro the only person anyone could see was the referee, clad in a luminous top, which may explain why Serbia's players failed to pick out the hulking frame of Nikola Zigic all afternoon. There have been calls for stadium roofs to be shut but weather forecasters have warned of a potential "greenhouse effect". Presumably an allusion to sweltering temperatures rather than the surprising, yet welcome, childhood discovery of dad's secret stash of bongo.

 

2) Leonardo on the BBC

The Brazilian midfielder may be "dishy", according to my mum, and he may bring a bit of South American flair to the Beeb's shower of a line-up but as no one can understand a word Leonardo bangs on about (including the blank-faced Lineker), surely a pair of fashionable Havaianas flip-flops could do the same job? Still, Leonardo is preferable to Ian Wright. So too are the flip-flops.

 

3) Angola's tactics

There's three minutes left, you're one-nil down to Portugal, your reviled one-time colonial masters, and you've a dangerous free kick positioned on the edge of the opposition's area. What do you do?

 

a) Adopt a clichéd African devil-may-care attitude to defence, throw everyone into the box, including the goalkeeper, and put the ball "into the mixer".

B) Do something you haven't done all match and perhaps have a shot, preferably on target.

c) Keep eight players behind the ball. Pass it backwards. Knock it around the defence a bit and then concede a lamentable throw-in.

 

For some reason, Angola took the last option. What happened fellas? Last time you played Portugal, the match was abandoned after you had four players sent off amid a flurry of brutal tackles and dissent with the score at 5-1 to Portugal. Now that's more like it.

 

4) Not enough fouls and fisticuffs

As Olivia Newton-John once warbled, "let's get physical, phy-sic-al". Where's all the rough and tumble gone, eh? There's been far too little to quench the average viewer's blood-thirst. Of course, no one likes to see brawls, dangerous tackles or bone-crunching collisions, do they? Except they do. In fact, that's exactly what people like to see. Instead of lugging out a big "Fair Play" banner before each game, those angelic kids should cart out one adorned with the words "Fight, Fight, Fight" to remind us all that football was once a contact game.

 

5) Gary Neville

Come on Gary, sing up, son. Stop looking so miserable, it's the World Cup f'chrissake, not a funeral. As England's nominated shop steward, you should be getting your lungs out for the lads and whacking out "God Save the Queen" with the same kind of gusto you used to wind up thousands of Scousers. Oh, and another thing: stop giving the flippin' ball away.

 

6) Boring pennants

It's not often that other countries are urged to follow Iran's lead, but in the world of football pennants, the Middle Eastern minnows are blazing an impressive trail. Before Iran's opening game against Mexico, captain Ali Daei received the lacklustre, traditional triangular number from Mexican Rafael Márquez. The Iranian, meanwhile, proudly handed over a huge, ornately decorated picture frame housing what appeared to be a bit of carpet with some squiggles on. Márquez looked a little embarrassed, like someone who'd brought a four-pack of Foster's to an ambassador's reception. Other teams should follow suit. When England play Trinidad & Tobago, David Beckham should ditch the Three Lions flag and give Dwight Yorke a picture of the tennis player scratching her backside, that one of the hunky man holding a baby, or, even better, a Jordan calendar.

 

7) Ronaldo's showboating

You're not in the playground now, Ronnie. After all those needless stopovers and dummies, indulgent posing for the cameras and refusing to play a simple ball when your team-mates are in acres of space, it's little wonder that Big Phil hauled you off. At least you didn't make matters worse by sulking on the bench though. Eh? Oh.

 

8) Mars advert

They shouldn't receive the oxygen of publicity but they're simply dire. Tango did it first and did it better. Believe that.

 

9) Screen glare

You want to watch the World Cup but others want to go out in the sunshine. Surely we can do both? Apparently not. We can put a man on the moon and run a car on vegetable oil but a telly that works in a sunny garden and doesn't give viewers a Columbo-style squint? Don't be so silly.

 

10) Fifth officials

Eh? What's that all about? Apparently, he's there just in case an assistant referee gets injured. If that's the thinking, why aren't there six officials in case both assistant referees get crocked? At least they could keep each other company and maybe even share the hotel room that Fifa are unnecessarily paying for.

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