Friday February 17, 2012

Japan faces big challenge against Australia in World Cup qualifier

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  • 0

    timorborder

    Is this game really in doubt? My money is Australia 2=0, with the Japanese mass media to go into a frenzy as a result.

  • 0

    Osakadaz

    As much as I would like my team to win,Japan are always strong at home and players like Matsui,Nakazawa,Nakamura,Endo and Tulio have a lot of individual ability.I think Australia has the most gifted player on the pitch in Timmy Cahill (equaly Scotty Mac) but often the Aussie forwards couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.Japan tends to make the most of their chances and Australia will have to be careful not to give away fouls and free-kicks in their own third due to rash challenges.If Australia defends the set-plays well and stays focussed a win is definitely there for the asking..but as a realist I always expect Australia to produce a clanger of a defensive slip-up,or have a man sent off.LOL Let it roll though!

  • 0

    hoserfella

    Japan tends to make the most of their chances

    Osakadaz- apparently you've missed the last 10 years of Japanese International soccer. They screw up scoring chances like nobody's business

  • 0

    magpie

    but often the Aussie forwards couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.Japan tends to make the most of their chances

    Osakadaz, that should read Japanese forwards. Aussie forwards may be can't as well but Aussie midfielders such as Cahill can. Needless to say, he's made the red side of liverpool feel the pain over three games in 4 weeks.

    Maki, Tamada, Tanaka, Okubo, Okazaki are not names that strike fear and the guy who I most want in this squad, Koki Mizuno isn't. let's see how the game goes...

  • 0

    onewrldoneppl

    final score: Aussies 3 - Nihonjins 1 (meaningless goal scored during extra time). book it!

  • 0

    Osakadaz

    mates..just trying to be graceful here. ;-) The ball is round,but yeah..the game is Australia's to lose.Can't wait to see Timmy going orrrrrrrrrf!

  • 0

    JackDorff

    Id like to see a 3-all draw, but Im leaning toward a 3-1 win to the Socceroos too. Japan won`t be feared until they have a consistent striker, and the only consistent strikers in the J-League are foreigners.

  • 0

    Nessie

    What time is the game? What station? Anyone know?

  • 0

    smithinjapan

    It's going to be a fun game just to watch the disappointment. I'm sorry, lads, but Japan just doesn't have it in them to win anymore, and the coach is part of the problem. I think they honestly believe they are inferior.

    All I know is, watching the Olympics and last World Cup I really, really wanted to see the Japan Women's Soccer Team face off against the men and kick their a$$es. The women at least bothered to try and take shots instead of passing in front of the net and losing the ball EVERY time, or kicking off into the stands. Seriously, the only time Japan EVER did well was when they co-hosted with Korea in 2002, and I swear that was solely because they were co-hosting. When Japan lost, it was NEVER about how well they did compared to past performances, it was only about how SKorea got to the next round while they cried on the field. After that, it was media blackout and reruns of the latest Kim-Taku disaster of a drama.

    I honestly would LOVE to see Japan do well, and I pray they try if only to make the game interesting. But you see, Australia has a lot more to prove, and I have complete faith that they will show that in their performance. Japan seems of late to be complacent with their indifference.

  • 0

    GenevaMan

    All I know is, watching the Olympics and last World Cup I really, really wanted to see the Japan Women's Soccer Team face off against the men and kick their a$$es

    My thought exactly. I went to Kokuritsu to watch the olympic squad just before the Olympics (VS Argentina, the game was stopped 10 before the end due to heavy rain): they were ok(even though they lost). But then they turned spastic during the Olympics, and I would deinitely think that the JFA should organize a match J-Bums VS Nadeshiko Japan.

    I wouldn't hold my breathe for the next game,: looking at the match reports, Australia lost some skills, probably due to the fact that Hiddink and his "homeopathic" treatments is not here anymore; Japan, well, is Japan, and its irregular performances are not making the game more interesting, but completely UFOesque most of the time.

    Japan and Australia are qualified anyway. I am just hoping for an Aussie victory, then the local media would stop with their post-modern-nationalistic bangumi showing nakamura like Morpheus in matrix.

  • 0

    Osakadaz

    I think Japan really needs to get more of it's young players out to academies in Europe to keep them developing as players.The J-League is a victim of its own success,as the best players tend to gravitate around it instead of looking more more challenges abroad...having said that,it is easier for them to train together,which I envy them. It is interesting that since Takahara returned to the J-League his career has flopped so badly that he was dropped entirely from this game.

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