Japan currently playing Greece, have absolutely dominated possession in the attacking half of play, even more than Korea did against Russia. Possession in the attacking half, closely correlates with creating chances on goal, which equates to winning football.

These observations have been based on when there were 11 v 11 on the pitch.

The structured possession of Japan and Korea is infinitely superior to most European nations.=d>

Eurosnobs will say that the score is indicative of standard of football. Wrong. I also doubt many of the technical departments of national federations of mid ranked European teams will admit they are being overtaken by the likes of Japan and Korea.

Results are important , but chances created on goal are even more important. Proactive play and attacking interplay are sage criteria to appraise a football nation.

Japan and Korea have had many more chances to score than their European opponents. In terms of Proactive play, building yup from the back of the pitch to the front, without the opposition touching the ball, Korea and Japan are better than any of the European teams, apart from the four powerhouses we base the FFA NC on. Maybe one can add Portugal and Belgium too.

In terms of handling speed, Japan is much quicker when receiving the ball and passing it onto the next player than many of the nations many in Australia think are infinitely superior to Asian football.

Japan don't get caught in possession easily, because they have had constant training to develop two footednesss and playing football on both sides of the body, in an effective body position. Hence, their footwork is infinitely superior to most European nations who don't have a holistic , national curriculum.

Japan, adopting a Brazilian development model, are constantly supporting the player on the ball, with innumerable, diagonal passing lanes, before they receive the ball. Receiving the ball diagonally, enables a player to have an effective body position to play or move forwards.

Japan were also easily able to break down Greece's slower handling speed of their players, by interception of predictable passes from Greek possession play that is too slow, Greek players having slower handling speed and being unable to move the ball quickly enough in structured possession and attacking combination play.

Japanese players also pass more proficiently with the outside of the foot in tight spaces, hence, feinting as they pass, with both sides of the body. It is just too hard for Greece and the likes of Russia, countries who have the wealth to import good players to their big clubs, to appear better than they are.

Greece is well organised defensively, like many European teams, but they are spectators watching Japan play all the football. Their best chances have been to capitalise on a few mistakes, in the Japanese Defensive Transitions, which should be better than they are - a weakness noted by FFA.

All Greece were able to do was launch a few , quick, accelerated attacks in their Attacking Transitions. The ball carrying of the Greeks has been good. Nevertheless, like Russia, they cannot put together sustained periods of structured possession, through inferior technique and less cohesive teamwork in Ball Possession.

if and when, Japan, and Korea, can become as clinical around goal as their European and South American counterparts, and as tactically astute, they will blow most European nations away.



Aussie teams in the ACL, and the Socceroos, are able to sustain possession, and disturb build ups far more effectively than these mid ranked European teams. I'd contend that it is more useful for Aussies to play in the K and J League, as opposed to the mid ranked Euro leagues.

It is good that Australia is part of Asia.

What the SBS commentators failed to note, is that teams playing like Greece never win World Cups. All teams winning World Cups have had excellent technical qualities.

Greek/Japan games should also see diminishing numbers of Eurosnobs, as the better Asian teams overtake the mediocre European teams.

For the record, Greece is one of my favourite countries to visit.:)

And yet they failed to score, again like most of the Asian teams.

When is this going to change?

It will over time.

Apart from Cahill, Australia is also profligate around goal compared to the top Euro and South American nations.

By dominating possession, particularly in the attacking half, it is the best form of defence. The other team cannot score without the ball.

Against Greece, Japan had 11 shots on goal compared to Greece's 5.

If one looks at the improvement made by Japan, Korea and us in the last 10 years, we have made great progress compared to most Euro and South American nations.

I'm not sure about Korea, but Japan and Australia have long term national plans, based on world's best practice in place.

If Australia or Japan had RVP and Robben playing for them, they would be both in the next round, from chances created compared to the opposition.

I agree with what you are saying and it is all good to say if we had this player or that player but why are we not creating a player such as RVP? The South American & European countries (the top ones at least) seem to retire one and replace them with another.

Why are we not? Is there something that needs to be addressed in the NC? Japan have not created one and they have a decade (at least) head start on us. I see us creating very good defenders/midfielders (more defensive types) but I do not see it in the final third.

Greece had 10 men for the second half and yet Japan did not score and watching the game you never had any confidence that they would score as Greece played deep.

Greece defended superbly, but they are never going to go far with that style of play. Japan has far more ingredients to be successful.

It takes a long time to develop players like RVP, Schneijder and Robben. These are some of the best players in the world.

We are setting up the pre-conditions with a stronger likelihood of doing crating these players. If, and when Rogic, gets match fit, he could be a special player for Australia, if, he has the stamona to play 90 minutes. Going back to Celtic is counterproductive for his development though.](*,)





Edited by Decentric: 20/6/2014 11:33:46 AM

Although I generally agree with you, and am interesting in your postings, teams advance thru the the world cup based on their results, not how many chances they created. A team which creates only 2 chances but finishes them both off will eliminate a team which creates 30 chances but only completes one of them.

^what he said.

Australia, England, Japan create chances. Can't score.
Holland have 1 chance, they score.

That's all that matters in a tournament. Its not a development Cup ffs! Only results matter.
Creating a multitude of chances is all fine and dandy for the u17s and u20 cups. But at the Senior World Cup, you have to put those chances away.

And, as another poster has posted a link on this forum, 40% of game phenomena is down to chance.

UEFA showed data at a coach education course I attended, that more possession in the attacking third, is conducive to winning football. There are simply more chances created.

Greece was the exception in this game, not the norm.




Edited by Decentric: 20/6/2014 01:51:39 PM

Most of the Japan possesion even in the attacking third was useless, just shifting the balls sideways back and forth, the Greek back line kept shifting with them and comfortably held them out, you could see the frustration from Japan even starting to play high balls into the box which of course Greece dealt with comfortably, this team has no cutting edge, we have seen it when they play Socceroos as well. A team like Greece would probably quality for the world cup via Asia with barely conceeding a goal imo.

Its all good and well producing technically good players the way Japan does but it means nothing without the end product, the reality is Greece looked more dangerous from corners.

I think japan is still lacking a real quality striker to play in front of their extraordinary midfield. Their attacking movement in the final third is unreal compared to some teams in this cup and like you say decentric, the focus on playing and receiving diagonal balls is a key and effective part of their gameplan.

For a team that can usually look so fast in their transition and overall ball movement, this WC has been lacking any quality in those areas so far.

Their performances have been lacking across the park, and have looked impotent at best anywhere near the box, with only one moment of magic by Honda looking close to a clear cut opportunity.

If Australia can continue to refine and develop their new style leading up to the Asian Cup in Jan, Japan will certainly have to lift its game too.

This game put me to sleep several times. That is my brief analysis :lol:

Read this article last year and have read ones with similar themes over the last 5 or so years. Japan also seems to import a lot of strikers domestically especially Brazilians so you would assume that would hamper the development of home grown talent as well.

http://www.wsc.co.uk/wsc-daily/1163-june-2013/10013-japan-s-inability-to-develop-a-world-class-striker

Japan's inability to develop a world-class striker

Holding back team's progress

icon striker28 June ~ Japan may have ended the Confederations Cup without a point but the team left the tournament with a host of new admirers. Outplayed in their opening loss to hosts Brazil, they showed signs of great attacking potential in a thrilling loss to the Italians, then looked threatening but failed to deliver against Mexico. With a goalscoring striker, results could have been much better.

During their time in Brazil the Japanese defence was singled out as being the central cause for concern. However, Japan have the players to improve at the back – it is the lack of an out-and-out striker that is the more serious problem. Furthermore, it's a situation that is nothing new.

Japanese football has a strong tradition of exporting technically gifted midfielders. Since the inauguration of the J-League two decades ago talented players such as Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura have been able to make successful transitions into European football. The current generation, spearheaded by the trio of Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki, have led to suggestions that Japan could potentially become the first Asian team to be considered on a level with the usual World Cup favourites from Europe and South America.

The difficulty in producing a striker capable of competing internationally comes partly from the reduced physicality found in the Japanese game, but there are also cultural aspects that play an important role in the development of the country's players. Japanese society revolves around the group dynamic. On the football pitch this can be seen in a strong team spirit and work ethic but the ruthlessness that characterises the attacking players of stronger international teams is notably absent. Most of the great goalscorers have had the single-minded mentality required to make the most of the slightest opportunities. Conversely, Japan generate build-up play of a high quality but consistently defer the responsibility of taking the final shot, as witnessed in the recent defeats in Brazil.

In their three matches at the Confederations Cup the role of lone striker, playing ahead of a triumvirate of attacking midfielders, was largely given to Ryoichi Maeda who, like every striker to play for the national team since their World Cup debut in 1998, has found success domestically but not abroad. The Japan team has already confirmed their return to Brazil in 2014 and are arguably the strongest side the country has ever produced. But without a principal striker at the level of those in support, they lack one of the essential components needed to properly challenge. Iain Pearce

Greece-Japan will probably go down as the worst game in the World Cup, yet decentric is trying to tell us how good Japan were! This is beyond a joke!

Japan were atrocious (Greece too, of course). Much of their tactics consisted of pumping high balls into the box, where midget strikers had no chance of winning the ball against tall defenders. Japan really gave us a lesson in how not to play football.

Japan need to develop some goal scoring strikers, or they will never win games at the world cup.

Japan got it all wrong, they needed to concentrate on having a lot of runners, going into the edges of the box, they should have played three fast hard working winger strikers ahead of Honda and Kagawa as attacking midfielders and pressured high. A half grade no 9 did nothing for them and having Endo come on was sheer stupidity.

japan played beautifully

but one thing I have noticed about asian teams in this world cup, acl and friendlies is they still seem so vulnerable to aerial threats

also for such a technical continent they seem very uncomfortable when even mediocre dribblers dribble at their defenders. This seemed very apparent in the acl

Having said that sk and japans passing was accurate fast and creative, probably as good as any team in the world
They were profligerate around goal though. A few chances should have been put away
Also the tactics seemed a little naive at times
if we can match the asian teams passing game we will be a very very strong team seeing as we don't share asian teams weaknesses apart from finishing

You ought to post in the performance section.

It is also good to have guys like you, semi-pro/pro trained coaches, to analyse strengths/weaknesses of teams apart from goals scored.

From an Australian perspective, it is good to see that what we find difficult to counter with Japan and Korea, mid ranked Euro team are having more difficultly than us.

It will be great if we can have four HAL teams regularly competing in the ACL against quality opposition. Our coaches are probably out-coaching superior teams with better players in the ACL.

Mate, where have you been all this time?

Great to see you posting here again, Localstar!:)

We will have to agree to disagree. Japan played well in Ball Possession, with some good technical play.

Greece were superb in Ball Possession Opposition, with terrific organisation and distancing between and within the lines. It takes a lot of concentration and good coaching to achieve this.

They seemed to be caught out in Defensive Transitions when they made an unforced mistake. The Greeks were good in their accelerated attacks.

Greece needs to do a lot of the harder work in improving their Ball Possession play, featuring Proactive support of players on the ball, and receiving with the outside of both feet when receiving from back to front. Japan easily seemed to disturb the predictable Greek build ups. Greek ball handling speed was too slow.

SK's superior ball handling and structures possession currently on display against Algeria

AFC sides:
8 games, 0 wins, 5 for, 14 against. 1 side already eliminated, the other 3 with slim chances to progress.

But at least theyre creating chances!

And the development. What about the development?

In 310 years time an AFC may make a semi.

Two made the last 16 in 2010 - Japan and Korea.

So we agree. AFC teams are going backwards.

And South Korea made the semis in 2002 so they really have gone backwards.


Edited by MUNRUBENMUZ: 23/6/2014 09:20:03 PM

Given modes of play, they've gone forwards, if using the Russian and Greek games as a criterion.

Algeria were impressive in the first half against Belgium. I didn't see the second half of that game.

I didn't see Algeria v Korea.

What is probably occurring is levelling out of federations. In the past Euro and South American federations dominated.



Edited by Decentric: 23/6/2014 09:48:14 PM

We all remember how SK got there. Let me know if you need a reminder