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Japan's Yuichi Komano, left, cries as he leaves the pitch after the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Paraguay and Japan at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. japan lost 4-5 following the shootout. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A tearful Yuichi Komano will feature prominently on the front pages of the insatiable Japanese press, and discussion of Japan’s “honourable defeat” will get air time on practically every TV and radio show across The Land Of The Rising Sun.
But Japan’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Paraguay won’t help the Japanese national team, nor will it do much for the standing of Asian football around the world.
That’s because as impressive as Japan’s turnaround at this World Cup was, it won’t be enough to convince the Eurocentric and South American-obsessed world media that Asian teams can play good football.
Regrettably, there wasn’t too much good football on display from Japan overnight – although I don’t agree with SBS analyst Craig Foster’s post-match claim that “the right team went through” simply because Paraguay employed a more adventurous game plan.
To suggest as much overlooks Japan’s impressive defensive discipline, their intelligent use of set pieces and the fact that the width of the crossbar twice came to Paraguay’s rescue at crucial junctures of the match.
No, “defeat with honour” won’t help because ultimately it will become just another hard-luck story used by the Japanese press to perpetuate the myth of heroic failure – at a time when Japanese football is crying out for some success.
It’s no coincidence that the bleach-blonde Keisuke Honda was named Man of the Match in the wake of the defeat, with the supremely talented CSKA Moscow attacker breaking the team mould to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Equally unsurprising was the sight of Honda shooting instead of passing to unmarked team-mate Yoshito Okubo midway through the first half, when in the past Japanese players have tended to delegate responsibility to anyone but themselves.
Honda’s impressive arrival on the world stage is mirrored by the decent tournament form of winger Daisuke Matsui and skipper Makoto Hasebe – two more players who ply their trade in Europe rather than the domestic J. League.
That Matsui finally came good after a series of patchy displays for the national team is testament to coach Okada’s staying power, and the bespectacled tactician deserves some praise for turning Japan’s fortunes around.
His decision not to start former pin-up boy Shunsuke Nakamura was a wise one, with the Yokohama F. Marinos midfielder palpably unfit and unquestioningly out of sorts.
Okada has prior form when it comes to omitting media darlings – he left Kazu Miura out of his 1998 World Cup squad – and the stubborn strategist was never bothered about breaking the hearts of teen girls up and down Japan.
The problem for Japanese football is that most of those girls will now go back to writing love letters to baseball stars, the domestic press will not question just how close Japan came to reaching a first ever quarter-final appearance, and the rest of the world won’t give Asian football the credit it deserves.
Had Okada employed some slightly more attacking tactics, Japan may well have struck the one goal required to knock out a cagey Paraguay side.
Instead it’s another case of “so near, yet so far” for a team that came within inches of celebrating an historic passage through to the final eight of a World Cup.
Forget about the clichés of Japanese football being on the rise – it rose in 1998 – and it has been challenging Japan’s favourite pastime of baseball ever since.
But Japan missed a golden opportunity to strike a chord for Asian football, and ultimately their valiant performances in South Africa will be all but forgotten by the time Brazil 2014 rolls around.
Japan should be commended for flying the flag for Asian football so admirably at a tournament in which many – myself included – expected them to fail.
Yet in the cold, hard light of day I just wonder if with a little more self-belief, and a little less conservatism, the Samurai Blue might have achieved so much more.