U.S. beats Japan 1-0 in Olympic men's soccer opener

Thursday 07th August, 11:30 PM JST

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Tatanka at 12:48 PM JST - 8th August

Anyway, the U.S. beat Japan again in Olympic soccer, and it shows once again that the game here in Japan is not getting better.

Japan is not getting better because just like baseball and sumo here -- its the "status quo", "live and let live" attitude. You can count on one hand the number of Japanese baseball players (both Central & Pacific Leagues) on the disabled list. They are all giving about 50 to 60% so they don't injure themselves.

Sumo injuries are only caused by morbidly fat men mildly exerting themselves. There should be no reason that more wrestlers make it to the top two ranks...
RomeoRamenII at 01:26 PM JST - 8th August

We are ... looking to play our brand of soccer and get three points,’’ said Sorimachi.

Riiiight.

RR
Kreza23 at 03:01 PM JST - 8th August

Congrats to the US team! Was rooting for Japan, so it was very frustrating for me to watch, but it was a fairly entertaining game. As many have pointed out, the lack of finish for Japan...

"Maybe you should give the U.S. more credit for not allowing Japan to score."

pathat - I agree, I thought Edu was total class in the backline, even though he was playing out of position. Great player (and the fact that he plays for Toronto FC only adds to my opinion of him).

But...

"Anyway, the U.S. beat Japan again in Olympic soccer, and it shows once again that the game here in Japan is not getting better."

Now that's an oversimplified analysis if I've ever heard one. Japan was tremendous at the under 20's last summer, losing to the eventual second-place finishers (at least I believe the Czech Republic came in second) after leading by two, their even younger age brackets are their respective Asian championships, and some of their players have been scouted by tea
Kreza23 at 03:04 PM JST - 8th August

Whoops, damn computer! Ha ha. Anyways, it doesn't matter. Good on the US, but I think this age bracket for Japan is just one of those rebuilding groups. They've got some talent, but Sorimachi has left a lot of deserving players out of this squad. I truly think that their team in London is gonna be a strong one though, or at least I hope so. Good luck to the States and Japan the rest of the way (they're both really gonna need it).
delitachan at 11:51 AM JST - 9th August

Yay Team USA!
Crucifier99 at 02:40 PM JST - 9th August

Whoops, damn computer! Ha ha. Anyways, it doesn't matter. Good on the US, but I think this age bracket for Japan is just one of those rebuilding groups. They've got some talent, but Sorimachi has left a lot of deserving players out of this squad. I truly think that their team in London is gonna be a strong one though, or at least I hope so. Good luck to the States and Japan the rest of the way (they're both really gonna need it).

Ah ah, they got no talent and their team for london won't do any better why ? because they just rely on excessive practise rather than talent as all the players are playing in the J-league coupled with having a rich sponsor Kirin beverage. Since sorimachi was appointed with the sole purpose of qualifying for the Olympics and aim for a medal the JFA has given him the full support by organising numerous friendlies altogether the Japan U-23 team played 36 matches from August 7, 2006 excluding the U.S.A match. Japan has played the most matches and are the most prepared team even China being the host and most other teams didn't play even half the number of matches Japan played. Japan is a good case of the saying that in some cases money can't buy success.
Kreza23 at 03:07 PM JST - 9th August

they just rely on excessive practise rather than talent as all the players are playing in the J-league coupled with having a rich sponsor Kirin beverage.

I'm sorry Crucifier, I'm not sure what you mean. Especially the all the players are playing in the J-League part. Do you mean, he's left a lot of good players back in Japan? Or do you mean that their players won't develop properly in the J League?

True, they've played a ton of games, but if you look at this age bracket when they competed together at the U-20's a couple of years ago (not the same group I talked about in an earlier post) and the squad they have now, they are totally different. There has been a ton of games, and players who were being groomed to lead this team were left off at the end (Mizuno, Ienaga, Hirayama, Cullen etc.)Some of this due to injury, most of this due to Sorimachi's often baffling evaluation of talent. This is not to say that all of those excluded should be in Beijing. I'm just saying Sorimachi has got to be up there as one of the worst managers at these games, and even until the beginning of the Olympics, he had no idea what he who he was gonna choose. So really, the 36 games you say they have played beforehand could've been 2 games, and the results would've been the same. Quality vs. quantity my friend.
ExPrinceska at 08:19 PM JST - 9th August

As there is not article about the women's soccer, I write here. Congratulations to team USA women for beating Japan 1:0.
Crucifier99 at 10:57 PM JST - 9th August

Kreza, What I meant by all the players playing in the J-league is like an advantage to Japan because players can easily be rallyed to camp. Players can easily be assembled for the numerous friendly matches they hosted. I don't think the players you mentioned left behind by sorimachi are any better than those he selected. the players lack talent and they look decent to you because they played too many matches together and play like a well drilled unit. On their own the players are average at best, that is why foreign teams have not been keen on recruiting Japanese Players and the few that have recruited have done so for commercial purpose rather than football reason.
Kreza23 at 01:13 AM JST - 10th August

I see, I see. I hear what you're saying now. And I can't say that I completely disagree with what you're saying, but why not use the fact that they CAN easily be assembled to play a number of friendlies and build a team that plays like a well drilled unit, instead of trying out so many new players so close to the Olympics?

And I'm not saying that I like the players that I mentioned either. In fact, I can't stand Hirayama, but this team is really lacking in creative flair, so they could use a big target man like Hirayama who can control long balls to the front and give the rest of the team time to run up, instead of wasting all of those possesions. If not him, at least Morishima, who played for the U-20's in Canada, and did well in a couple of games with this team as well. And if that's not what they're aiming to do, then why not pick midfielders who can create for their forwards, like Kashiwagi or Kanasaki? I just don't see where Sorimachi is expecting to get his offence from. Morimoto would be much better off playing off of another post-type striker, or having somebody give him the ball in a decent scoring position, instead of trying to do it himself. They're just wasting his talent.
Crucifier99 at 10:23 AM JST - 10th August

Kreza, What you fail to understand is that a player like Hirayama can't even cut it in the J-league, he is a bench warmer at Tokyo Fc and you expect to do something at the Olympics against taller and stronger defenders than in the J-league. Morishima, Kashiwagi, kanasaki are all average or below against strong foreign opposition but in the J-league or against the likes of Qatar,Syria ,Malaysia and HongKong they will all look like Zidane or Riquelme. Morimaoto like alot of other Japanese players has not lived up to the hype that got him signed by Catania. As I mentioned in my previous thread the Japanese due to their submissive nature will always play to the coaches instruction and as a result play well as a unit which does not equate to having talent. apart from nakamura (celtic) I just don't see any talent in Japan.
Kreza23 at 10:36 AM JST - 10th August

Crucifer, I totally understand that Hirayama isn't cutting it in the J-League. But I also think if you gave him a job to do that didn't require doing too much, he would be capable. He scored some fine goals in Holland when he played there as well, and if he weren't such a wuss (don't know if you know the entire story about why he left), he could've actually developed into a decent player there. Ironically, it was when he came back to the J League that he stopped getting any playing time.

Morishima, Kashiwagi, kanasaki are all average or below against strong foreign opposition

Have you seen them play against foreign opposition? The only competition I've seen Morishima and Kashiwagi play in was the under-20's, and they, along with Umesaki and the current side backs, Uchida and Yasuda, were tremendous, and like I've said, if it weren't for a defensive meltdown in the final 30 minutes, would've beaten the eventual 2nd place finishers. Kanasaki played well in the J-League vs. K-League all-star game, and I understand the level of play in that game, but even being the youngest player there, he really stood out when he came on to play, so I think there is hope for him. As for Morimoto, he was hurt a lot last year, but he was the second-youngest foreigner to ever score in the Serie A, and he played well when he wasn't hurt. The Italian media were, and still are quite high on him, so I wouldn't count him out yet.
Crucifier99 at 10:32 PM JST - 10th August

You can't base judgement on whether the players are talented or not at the under-age tournaments because japan has an the advantage over other countries in that the players all play in the J-league and are easily rallyed to camp and have the money to invite countries to Japan for friendlies, due to numerous camps held and friendlies played they are more organised and play as a team with good understanding. contrast that with other countries whose players are scattered across the globe and meet at short notice without ample training an rest. You can't read much into a players performance in an all star game involving the J & K league. Morimoto might be the 2nd youngest foreigner to score in the Serie A but if he didn't score consistently the tag of 2nd youngest scorer means nada. As for Hirayama, Sorimachi gave him a chance and he couldn't seize, he might have scored a few goals at Den Hag but if he can't repeat the feat in a supposedly weaker J-league then he has no business playing for the U-23 at the Olympics. Just because a player has height does gaurantee the player an automatic shirt.
Kreza23 at 11:09 PM JST - 10th August

Crucifer, ok, let's forget Hirayama (who played for Heracles, not Den Haag), because like I said, I really don't like him. All I was saying that if their entire plan was to play long balls into a striker, they might as well have used someone who could settle the ball down for them up front.

You can't base judgement on whether the players are talented or not at the under-age tournaments because japan has an the advantage over other countries in that the players all play in the J-league and are easily rallyed to camp and have the money to invite countries to Japan for friendlies, due to numerous camps held and friendlies played they are more organised and play as a team with good understanding.

You've mentioned this a couple of times already as if Japan is guilty of doing something wrong, but when we're talking U-20's, which is what I mentioned with Kashiwagi and Morishima etc, other than the top of the top, most players in other countries are also still playing domestically in their leagues anyways. And on top of that, if you want to argue that Japan has an advantage here, think also that the J players are developing in a much weaker league and playing against lesser opposition. European players are playing and developing against much better players. I think that's a bigger advantage than having an extra training camp. The Olympic team is a different story, they played a lot, I'm not disagreeing, but the U-20's didn't. As for Morimoto, like I said, he was injured this year, for the majority of the season after starting off well. He only came back near the end of the season, which is why he didn't score much.
formergaijinIN at 09:18 PM JST - 13th August

Cool, the U.S. won!