deadhippo
June 14th, 2006, 01:07 AM
At this point probably everybody probably knows that Japan lost the first game in the World Cup. They seemed to be the better team for most of the game (sorry Australians) but they just couldn't finish. The first ten minutes or so was terrible and it looked like they were going to be smashed but suddenly everything seemed to come together and they started to control the game.
The Australian team seem to resort to dirty play for a while giving Nakamura hard tackle after hard tackle until one player finally got a yellow card. It should have been his second or if possible third. In other words Australia should have been playing with 10 men. If this were the case would Japan have been able to win? Of course it would have helped but I don't think Japan lost because of their failure to defend themselves in the last ten minutes. They really lost because of their failure to shoot. Several times Japan broke through almost to the box with possession and only two badly placed defenders to help the goalkeeper and instead of shooting they gave the Australian defenders the few seconds they needed to thwart the attack. They passed the ball. They passed the ball. They passed the ball. It was so frustrating. The nation was crying "SHOOT! SHOOT!" but to no avail. They are strikers but they didn't strike. I don't think it's fair to blame Japan's defense. They probably felt the same frustration that we, the supporters did. The forwards erred. If they had done their job they would have forced Australia to defend and they wouldn't have had the opportunity to score three goals in the final 10 minutes.
Watching this display I thought that the problem was cultural. The forwards didn't want to try and then fail and then be criticized so they would rather give it to the more experienced or better regarded player even though it would be even more difficult for that player to score. For that player would probably not be criticized as he has already proven his value in Europe. The football pitch is no place for this type of humility. Just shoot!
The Australian team seem to resort to dirty play for a while giving Nakamura hard tackle after hard tackle until one player finally got a yellow card. It should have been his second or if possible third. In other words Australia should have been playing with 10 men. If this were the case would Japan have been able to win? Of course it would have helped but I don't think Japan lost because of their failure to defend themselves in the last ten minutes. They really lost because of their failure to shoot. Several times Japan broke through almost to the box with possession and only two badly placed defenders to help the goalkeeper and instead of shooting they gave the Australian defenders the few seconds they needed to thwart the attack. They passed the ball. They passed the ball. They passed the ball. It was so frustrating. The nation was crying "SHOOT! SHOOT!" but to no avail. They are strikers but they didn't strike. I don't think it's fair to blame Japan's defense. They probably felt the same frustration that we, the supporters did. The forwards erred. If they had done their job they would have forced Australia to defend and they wouldn't have had the opportunity to score three goals in the final 10 minutes.
Watching this display I thought that the problem was cultural. The forwards didn't want to try and then fail and then be criticized so they would rather give it to the more experienced or better regarded player even though it would be even more difficult for that player to score. For that player would probably not be criticized as he has already proven his value in Europe. The football pitch is no place for this type of humility. Just shoot!