A round of mixed results in the AFC Champions League will have left A-League fans scratching their heads this week. Hopes were high after Newcastle Jets held Nagoya Grampus to a credible draw at Mizuho Stadium. But with Kawasaki Frontale dishing out a footballing lesson to a stunned Central Coast Mariners, the question remains: can A-League clubs ever compete with the Japanese?
A few home truths need to be faced before A-League clubs can think about bridging the gap.
Without wishing to employ the words “technical and tactical,” Australians need to see beyond the impressive budgets and Brazilian wizardry available to many Japanese clubs and start recognising what ideas we can borrow to improve our own football.
And we should start by looking at training methods.
Is it any wonder that Kawasaki Frontale employed two converted midfielders in the form of Yusuke Mori and Kazuhiro Murakami to play as attacking wing-backs?
It’s not just because Mori and Murakami have spent most of their careers as midfielders that they looked so accomplished going forward.
Instead it’s the fact that Japanese players are drilled incessantly in the art of close control and ball skills.
And when I say drilled, I don’t mean a few training sessions a week by the time they are in their twenties.
Japanese players are considered by FIFA to be the most technically accomplished in the world at age sixteen because by that time they have been practicing ball skills for at least ten years.
The school system helps – Japanese children are used to drilling endlessly in any number of topics – and that kind of regime helps condition young footballers to put in the practice required to become a professional.
And the kind of football demanded by Japanese coaches, with players interchangeable and adept at playing any number of positions, is what encourages teams like Kawasaki Frontale to play the combination football that so embarrassed the Mariners.
Elementary mistakes don’t help, of course, and after Hiroyuki Taniguchi scored most of his ten goals last season with his head, you’d think a Central Coast defender might have picked up the little midfielder in the box.
It’s not like Lawrie McKinna even needed to watch last season’s DVD – Taniguchi scored from a header against Nagoya Grampus just last week.
Speaking of Nagoya, they looked fairly uninspired against Newcastle Jets, with Gary van Egmond’s side slightly unfortunate not to go on and win their clash at a balmy Mizuho.
I’m not sure where “Dutchy” pulled the idea that Nagoya are one of the favourites to reach the final from – personally I thought Grampus might struggle to get out of the group stage – and they were comfortably beaten by Kawasaki Frontale in the J. League last weekend.
But once again it was a Japanese player in Keiji Tamada – not the much-vaunted Davi – who did the damage against Newcastle, and the Jets were slightly fortunate that last season’s J. League Rookie Of The Year Yoshizumi Ogawa was in unusually quiet form.
All the imports in the world don’t change the fact that Nagoya’s exciting teenager Sho Hanai or Kawasaki’s one-club man Kengo Nakamura are locally produced.
Even Kawasaki’s Chong Tese is a product of the Japanese youth system. He may be a North Korean international, but the star striker was born and raised in Nagoya.
Football Australia has taken steps to redress the issue by introducing a much-needed Youth League, but it’s of little value unless Australian clubs start to implement some of the training regimes that are bringing Japanese teams so much success.
And having joked a couple of months ago to Simon Hill that I could see Kawasaki putting ten goals passed Danny Vukovic, I’m a little alarmed that my facetious prediction wasn’t that far off the mark.
It took the Socceroos thirty-two years to make a second World Cup finals appearance.
I hope it doesn’t take that long before A-League teams can compete on a consistent basis with their Japanese counterparts.
Follow Mike on twitter @Mike_Tuckerman
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Cpaaa said | April 9th 2009 @ 7:58am | Report comment
interesting views on the Japanese training systems.CCM and NCJU wont make past the group stage, for what hope do we have for our teams that finished mid table and dead last only a couple of months ago and now playing at a higher level ? this year we are there to make up numbers through a draw that even lowers the quality of the ACL
Dave said | April 9th 2009 @ 8:38am | Report comment
Agreed that the system for selecting the HAL participants in ACL severely disadvantages the Aussie teams…would be very interested to see how MV went against Kawasaki. But that is the system we will have to live with…so we have the wooden spooners plus a team that hasnt won in 2009 representing HAL??
The Jets did very well vs Nagoya and should have won with some composed finishing so it is not total disaster. If the HAL teams are switched on and play to potential they can compete against any of the Asian club teams. Doesnt mean to say that more cannot be done…from what l gather FFA are and have put in changes and developments which will begin to turn Junior coaching/training methods around…but it is a generational change and will take 10-20 years before benefits are seen.
Also dont forget football doesnt have competition of other football codes in Japan…Rugby is barely a blip on the horizon with AFL and RL unheard of. So all their eggs are in the football basket whereas football in Oz has to share talent, time, facilities etc with 3 other codes.
As the standard of Junior coaching/training improves, as the NYL continues to develop and as football gains more prominence in Oz things will slowly change eg CCM football academy is one example.
So for a few years any HAL teams not playing at the top of their game will be well beaten by top Asian club teams but lets not throw our hands up in total despair…remedies are slowly being introduced and the situation will begin to turn around. Changes to HAL rules such as the introduction of an overseas and separate home marquees plus youth marquees and the allowance of additional signings for those in the ACL will give some immediate relief.
Eamonn said | April 9th 2009 @ 9:03am | Report comment
yeah but no but yeah but Mike, it ain’t all rosy in Japanese football is it?
Need to compare Apples with apples…take the top 50 players including best young players out of the J-League and what level of performance would you expect.
How many of these Japanese players are whisked overseas to other clubs?
Burns, Rukavystya, Milligan, Griffith, Vidovic, Troisi, Jedinak, Djite, Beauchamp, Carle and the rest are among some of our best technically and they are no longer around to make an impact in the ACL for Aussie teams.
This may also contribute to the gap between Japan and Australia…and judging from last night’s debacle no one has followed Vidmar or Verbeeks tactics when faced with better technicians on the field. One up front:)
And the J-League maybe better than the A-League..but the national team can’t score for toffee…has never been able to score in any World Cup games of note..so before we all get on the Japan bandwagon…lovely to watch but have they ever got out of their group at the World Cup.
So great technically but can they put the ball in the net…not at national level.
The strength of the J-League….most players stay home…is perhaps the weakness of the national team.
Tom said | April 9th 2009 @ 9:16am | Report comment
I don’t know if its the strength of the J-league that weakens the national team. I think its more the culture that Mike was talking about, of constant drills and teamwork over individual brilliance.
Great goalscorers are often mercurial rather than consistent.
Good article, though. Seeing as Japan is a bigger, wealthier and more football focussed country than Australia is, it would be something of a miracle if the A-league were ever to catch up to the J-league in our lifetimes. Not a bad long term goal to aim for, if we want to be ambitious.
Mackey said | April 9th 2009 @ 10:09am | Report comment
I think people have to start accepting the A-League for what it is and stop wishing it to rival the EPL or LA Liga after 5 seasons. The fact of the matter is that the competition is young, there hasn’t been, until recently, a recognised national football curriculum, so it’s going to take a fair while for the comp to develop.
I do believe that the clubs who invest in their backrooms as well as their playing rosters will be the teams who move forward.
You will also notice the difference between the CCM and other teams, no Marquee players and no recognised playmakers, one can’t help to think that in the upcoming season the Mariners look like sinking in an ocean of Fowlers, Millers, Hernandez’, and Culinas.
Pippinu said | April 9th 2009 @ 10:10am | Report comment
Good point by Eammon – plenty have come out of the A-League the last two years and gone straight into decent European comps.
The question then becomes – is the J-League’s standard likely to keep improving such that it challenges the 2nd tier European comps in terms of quality?
Will it ever match, say, the Eredivisie or the Turkish league? (meaning that Japanese players not playing overseas becomes less of an issue for the NT)
Either way, who could ever have imagined that the Mariners would only have needed one game to match AU’s embarassing performance last year?
Vicentin said | April 9th 2009 @ 10:14am | Report comment
Kawasaki were fantastic last night – and CCM were completely woeful. Regardless that many of our best young players play overseas there is still a “technical” gulf between our best and their best.
It is a work in progress but I think that a blend between strict discipline (repetition) in individual ball skills at a young age and lots of free play where kids are encouraged to be creative in small sided games is the way to go. Obviously the Japanese teams are well drilled collectively as well and the movement off the ball (like Arsenal, Villareal, and Barcelona in the latest CL round) both in an attacking and defensive sense is exceptional.
For all the talk about Jogo Bonito etc with the Brazilians – and the Japanese have recognised this by going “Brazilian” 30 years ago, there is no escaping that probably no nation works harder at their football than the Brazilians. You need to spend hours and hours with the ball every week to get that relationship with it that allows you to play like it is stuck to your foot. Even non-elite teams in Brazil understand this whereas the other night I watched a non elite junior team (under 11) spend two thirds of their once-a-week one hour (WTF) training session running around without a ball. I remember seeing some of the kids in that team a few years ago and they had potential – it’s gone and I don’t need to wonder why. Yes it is changing but it needs to be faster and more widespread before we see the sort of pool of good quality players that our junior participation rates suggest we should have.
Spankings like what CCM took last night can only be good for the local game as it will force the McKinnas and other dour, direct managers to acknowledge that what they try and sell locally just doesn’t work against decent opposition. Hell, even that thick-head Slater constantly talks “technically and tactically” and “movement off the ball” constantly these days- if it is getting through his head you’d think a lot of people would be getting it earlier! That said he won’t let go of his “attacking the ball” and “taking it to the byline” cliches … To his credit though it is good to hear the exasperation in his voice in games like last nights – he cares.
Vicentin said | April 9th 2009 @ 10:22am | Report comment
Mackey, good point re playmakers. How the f@#K though did McKinna go into that game without at least Gumprecht playing? They had absolutely no one in midfielder with any creativity before he came on. Elrich added to their game too – last 10 minutes? Also, I think Mrjda is a midfielder and not a striker – don’t know if he is fit enough for the role but he has more skill than any other the current midfielders and arguably more creativity. Hard one to judge that one because the current mids can’t control the ball long enough for me to to determine if they can do anything with it.
Sammy C said | April 9th 2009 @ 11:05am | Report comment
But Slater said we aren’t far off?
Bollocks.
Manfred the Milko said | April 9th 2009 @ 11:15am | Report comment
Eamonn .. you think the Japanese national team is weak because their players are mostly in J-League ?
They are about to go to their fourth consecutive World Cup (I think that’s what SBS reported)
The J-League is a high standard competition.
Aussie boys leave the A-League mainly cos the coaches are crap, and can’t improve the league, in turn helping their football develop.
handouts are given to Tobins and Okons who can’t coach. NYL teams, and the important developmental coaching roles that go with them, are given to Damien Brown and Craig Deans who have never coached at a level where we should allow them in the developmental system.
Japan has educated their coaches first and foremost, and their league is reaping the rewards today.
Lawrie picks plonkers and donkeys and doesn’t like foreigners … we saw the result. He bought back Kwasnik for Christ’s sake. Someone said the CCMs haven’t won a match this year … is that true ?
GVE (a crap coach) to his credit, has bought in some quality, and the Jets seem a lot better than six months ago.
We are ignorant and take Asia for granted, Eamonn is living proof. … nuff said.