Japan beats New Zealand 4-2 in soccer friendly

Shame I missed this. The first goal from NZ was a beaut!

Japanese fans need to learn that you don't sing one song continually throughout each half. I couldn't stand it after the first 5 minutes of the second half. I kept flicking over to it from another channel, and they were still singing the same stupid song!! Go to a football game in any other country and you hear about 10 different songs a half.

Probie, I watched the entire game. They certainly have more than one song. Here is a list :

Nippon Call, Vamos Nippon, Entertainer, Go West, Green Green, Jericho, Go Ahead, etc.

Scoring in a game against New Zealand isn't going to send out a particularly strong message to anyone. They are no better than a 3rd tier English league team.

Probie, I watched the entire game. They certainly have more than one song. Here is a list : Nippon Call, Vamos Nippon, Entertainer, Go West, Green Green, Jericho, Go Ahead, etc.

Well then, they must have been singing the other ones while I was watching something less annoying.

Ganbarre, Samurai Blue !

Ganbarre, Samurai Blue !

Yeah, well done. They beat the 89th ranked soccer powerhouse New Zealand!

I wonder if they'll really push themselves and play 62nd ranked Burkina Faso next?

To the ebst of my knowledge this 'friendly' wasn't even shown here. I certainly heard no mention of it at my sport-mad school today.

Probie, it's just a friendly game. It doesn't matter who won or who they beat. It was a good opportunity to test players out. Zac played a lot of young players who usually don't get much time on the field, such as Hosogai, Morishige, Kiyotake, Sato, Sakai (G). By the way, Burkina Faso is only one spot down from South Korea (61), one of Japan's biggest rivals.

By the way, Burkina Faso is only one spot down from South Korea (61), one of Japan's biggest rivals.

And Japan is 50th. Playing weak teams is pointless is you want to improve as a team.

@Jaymann You'll probably find that the majority of English people couldn't give a toss about rugby. When I was a schoolboy, playing rugby and cricket was a punishment for punch-ups in the dressing rooms before football games. The subject is football here, a sport many people in the world actually care about. As for the game, I thought Japan were heading for double figures, but credit to NZ for showing a bit of fight and salvaging some pride. Good game to watch.

in the 60s in NZ if you played soccer it was because you were gay or injured and couldn't play the mans game rugby. The NZ rugby team is called all blacks as everyone knows, the football team is called the all whites, and the cricket team is called the all outs !

To the ebst of my knowledge this 'friendly' wasn't even shown here

The game was shown in NZ and repeated today as well. It was also widely covered on the morning and evening sports bulletins.

The FIFA rankings mean absolutely nothing in real football terms, every proper football fan knows that. They don't take into account the standard of the opposition or the relevance of the match.

I'm no soccer expert, but isn't 4 goals in 17 minutes and then no goals for the rest of the game and conceding two goals kind of rare?

I turned on the TV at 4-0 at the 20 minute mark and assumed it might get to 8-0.

What happened?

@Peacetrain: it's indeed sort of rare. My guess is that Japan spent all their battery in the first 20 minutes and kept looking for a a power outlet the rest of the game. LOL.