^^^Interesting about Honda's thyroid- the "bulging eyes" are a hallmark of thyroid disease but these days its usually identified well before it gets to that point and treated, I though it was juts his normal physiognomy.

And I agree about Uchida, Sakai is a more defensive RB than Uchida.

Japan are suffering in a number of areas:
- Honda has been recovering from a thyroid problem for quite some time and is finally regaining full fitness. I think he toiled hard in this tournament but is still far from his best.

- Kagawa's performances have been in steady decline for club and country ever since he moved to ManU. Many Japanese fans I have spoken to are worried about his future. His career is a mirror image of Fernando Torres. They should persist with Muto and keep Kagawa on the bench until his form improves.

- They need to regenerate in central midfield. Endo is a champion but is now too slow, much like the problems we faced when Bresciano was starting for Australia. They should really be looking at starting Shibasaki in this position going forward.

- Lastly they really missed Uchida at this tournament as he offers a better attacking outlet than Sakai, in my opinion. If he gets over his injury soon, I would not be surprised seeing him come back into the side.

Look at you big predictions that cant be tested.

Fuck off.

Totally disagree, UAE did for us what Ange would not have been prepared to do and that is park the bus against Japan.
Sainsbury can only mark one man, the other teams by hitting early balls to the striker have played into our hands because then Sainsbury stopped them. Japan would have counterttacked with numbers and shorter passes, so that would have been the end of the section.

I'd say that we over-rate the J-league and K-league, certainly under-rate S.Koreas national team. I reckon we probably are about right with Japan they did win the last Asian cup.

S.Korea as a impressive little list of quality players in Europe



Dont stress we got Trent Sainsbury Honda had no chance....

Tim Cahill would score his token header against Japan resulting in a 1-nil win to us

:)



Edited by Davstar: 27/1/2015 11:06:28 PM

Japan's biggest achilles heel for the last 15 years has been the inability to produce a top class No.9 and a top class CB. Yoshida is ok, but they dont have anyone else at that level. Okazaki is good but lacks the physical presence to handle the strong CBs.


Also the way they play its becoming too predictable, they also don't produce a decent winger who can that bit different. They only produce No.10s which i don't have a problem with however the defences have found ways to frustrate them.

International teams have recognised these issues at all levels not just senior level. They need to evolve as a football nation again if they want to take the next level.

Both under 16s and under 19s have failed to qualify for the respective world cups, bit of a worry here.

Japan were all over UAE except for extra time, massive bullet dodged , with Ange's system and the tiredness in the squad, and the unwilligness to rotate players beyond a limited amout, Japan would have had us on the break.

You are a silly if you think games from the 1950's play a role :lol: That was the point I was making. What is Japan's record against Korea in their 5 most recent meetings? That is a better yard stick since it is recent?

I think winning 4 of the last 6 Asian Cups is a better yard stick to show Japan is #1 in Asia in the last 20+/- years

Edited by jonomv: 27/1/2015 09:57:21 PM

:roll: looking at last 5 games and ignoring 70!

:roll: equating 6 Aus-China games with 75 Kor-Jap games

what is it for the last 5 or so matches.

Using all time records :lol:

Our all time record against China
Australia V China : P 6 W 1 D 1 L 4 :lol:

hmmm...

Japan v Sth Korea: P 75 W 13 D 22 L 40

x2. They're a good benchmark.

I don't know, having watched the game, UAE holding on in that game was nigh on explainable only in terms of divine intervention. Some of the opportunities that were spurned were breathtaking. Put Cahill in that team and Japan wins 6-1 in regulation.

If we win a game it's because the other side were shit and over-rated.
If we lose a game it's we're shit and over-rated.

If anything, we generally underrate both Japan, and especially South Korea.

I would say they are the most overrated team by a considerable margin on these forums. I don't think people outside of here really rate them that highly though.

Japan have proven they are the most organised nation and hardest to beat team in Asia.

What have Australia proven - we've lost too many games over the last 12 months as an effect of regenerating the squad in rapid time, time to start winning more games. For some reason I think we need to prove ourselves in Asia first, because we are not the best team here and never will be until we beat Asian teams regularly and easily. Like we did in Oceania.

Until we have a strangle hold on Asia, Conquer Asia, we will always be second guessing ourselves playing good Euro teams.


Edited by highkick05: 26/1/2015 02:51:21 PM

Sounds like Australian fans on this board...:-" :-"

Any who..... I thought they bright in one of the younger teams I've seen from them...might just be a trantional/rebuilding stage (someone please correct me if I'm wrong)

As others have said Aguirre didn't rotate the squad enough, especially considering the slide in speed, strength and stamina of aging players like Endo, Hasabe, Yoshida and Konno. They've played together a lot over the last 6 years, and so have great communication etc but eventually players like Endo and Hasabe are just going to get mugged in the midfield before any kind of attack can be launched because of a lack of pace. Also, they're just as wasteful in front of goal as us...If one in 10 of their shots had gone in it would have been an easy win. Basically, they're going to have to regenerate the squad

The most overrated team on these forums by far.

I am don't think there are many problems with the Japanese team. UAE were very lucky with a team that didn't rotate. You need to have all you best players fully prepared at the pointy end of the tournament Aguire didn't do this. Instead he relied too much on them in the group stages. I think this gave UAE an opportunity and they defended well. A well managed Japan squad would be devastating in both Asia and on the international stage.

The Japanese culturally are notoriously hard working, humble and efficient.

We know they can do better with the individual qualities of the players they have. They should go for a local coach who understand the mentality.

Japan are quality. They have a coach who isn't the right fit for them . Also need a worthy alternative to ozazaki .

I also rate Okazaki but they have no alternative to him when they want to change things. They might as well start learning how to play with a false 9 at this rate.

We definitely overrate their penalty taking ability.

Their biggest issue in tournament football is their mental weakness. Seems they've had an issue going from a good Asian side and an underdog internationally to the best team in Asia and one of the more fancied sides in world football. I thought 2011 May have ended that but the last 6 months show otherwise

I reckon Okazaki is fine. He's scored a lot of goals for club and country, just had an off tournament.

They just need a decent coach. Imagine what Ange could do with their players.

Since leaving for United (and returning back to BD) Kagawa has had a career drop similar to that of Fernando Torres.

Their players certainly warrant the no. 1 in Asia tag.

Perhaps we're underestimating the UAE instead?