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.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Guest
Both Korea and Japan could have gone through however the dice rolled the other way, such is football. I was hoping when Abe came off that Morimoto would be brought on to rough up the Paraguayan defence however, alas, it was not to be. What was interesting at the game was the fact that nearly all the neutrals, primarily South Africans, were rooting for Japan. They had Japanese flags painted on their faces, headbands with the rising sun and Samurai Blue replica shirts. For every Japanese I saw there must have been 5 to 6 non-Japanese sporting Japanese apparel. The Japanese may not have captured the imagination of those in Europe however they did a pretty decent job in South Africa.
whiskeymac
Guest
we tallking about selling shirts and appearing in ads or winning games in competitions? good players dont always make for good teams. england, italy, france all had players we wld be very happy to have - but their performances were below average. NZ on the other hand offer a diametrically opposite set up. produce technically good teams and if they are well organised and focused then they can do wonders. the US are one such team in my mind. and Korea another - we used to be despite the german game. i disagree that asia needs players in each team in the big leagues ot be taken seriously. they just need to play greece, serbia and denmark more and avoid germany and brazil. as for the next iter down... well i conceded already somewhere that after the top 5 in asia it gets a bit thin. but if it was compared to a league.... 5 big clubs is still better than say the primera which only has 2 maybe 3 =)
Ken Bailey's Probation Officer
Guest
Was everyone saying 'we've let Oceania down' in 1974? No. And why is Mike Tuckerman so eager to be offended by 'Eurocentric coverage' on Asia's behalf? Does Asia care about what the European press says? No. If I were you, I'd be worrying about Australia's complete lack of grunt up front prior to the Asian finals rather than indulging in spurious hand-wringing about letting a whole continent down.
AA
Guest
Based on your statistics AndyRoo, Australia's average is 3 goals a game (for either team) which is not bad entertainment if you ask me.
Cpaaa
Roar Pro
too true Dave. But I think its because Japan was our final hope, flying the flag for Asia on the last day of 16. Perhaps it was also the fact Japan has just never managed to get to the quater finals, and this was a big opportunity missed. Unlike Australia, we blew it from the start.
Art Sapphire
Guest
Good Post Dave - Sth Korea went out courtesy of a wonder goal from Suarez. If only the Korean striker had put away that chance to level late in the game, they might have earned a deserved spot in the quarter finals. They clearly played the best brand of football out of the three big Asian nations (Aus, Japan, Sth Korea).
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
Korea is definitely the one to watch with the K league doing well and a number of good young players moving to Europe. They also have the continents biggest star in Park Ji Sung. Honda looks set to give him a run for his money though and I look forward to the future match ups and debates about which is better.
Eamonn Flanagan
Guest
Mike think this is a big step for Japan in the scheme of things. They've found some forward finishing power from a number of sources, they've won a couple of games; having watched Japan at various World Cups I'd argue this was their best ever team..better than the 2002 by some way...and remember they came into the tournament on the back of some shocking performances...Japan 0 Serbia 3 for example. With the number of Japanese teams in the AFC who show strong attacking football qualities Japanese football is well placed to develop further. All they need is a strikeforce and finally they seem to have one. And long-term the development of further quality strikers is the key. Honda will have inspired a generation like never before I suspect. At international level and in World Cups in particular their strikers have been woeful...at best. Remember the Aussie game..after you sir, no after you! A missed opportunity, maybe but long-term they'll get a lot of self-belief from beating the Danes, Cameroon scoring from a number of sources and with Honda and co cracking the European market and playing so well, physically, the team should go from strength to strength.
Dave
Guest
This article focuses on Japan yet based on Japan's performance judgest the whole of Asia. I think you have forgotten that Korea usually flies the flag for Asia. You may be aware (but just in case) Korea also played in the same round of 16 against Uruguay on Saturday night . Korea had Uruguay rattled (many who tip them to be in the semi finals) and even their coach Tabarez said that Uruguay were lucky on the night. I don't know about Japan doing much for Asian football. In fact, I probably agree with your article on that point. But you have failed to recognise Korea's contribution to Asia's football credibility around the world.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Cpaaa, yes the FFA did not do their home work when they appointed Verbeek. I can remember when the Frenchman (his name escapes me for the moment) applied for the post he wanted control of the Olyroos and the national team to do the job properly and Ben Buckley refused him and stated that we had an Olyroo coach in Graham Arnold. Pim did not care about the Olyroos or did not understand the set up––not sure––but he couldn’t managed an A and B team concept anyway..
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Towser, yes I agree with that, the national manager has to have control of both teams and even the under 23's––this would be great––could even give us an A, B, and C of sorts. Germany did it with their squads I believe I heard Franz Beckenbauer speak on that how the German FA restructured their whole set up for a natural transition.
Cpaaa
Roar Pro
That is long over due AF. Under Verbeek, the team had pretty much walked into their starting positions. Now we have an aged squad and the emphasis must be on youth with plenty of match time. Im still bitter about our exit, one can not help but think, what could have been, when Ghana take on Uruguay. We have let down ourselves and Asia probably more so than Japan. BUT, get over it, I must!
Towser
Guest
What I've never understood is why the national team set up doesnt have a fluid flow on from the Olyroos to the Socceroos. Surely this could be the A&B team ?
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Struggling through watching the games last night (lack of sleep) with the unfortunate sorrowful departure of the Blue Samurai---I felt it was a shame for Asian Football---with a bit more depth and luck they could have gotten through. They certainly look jaded to me with too much football in a short space of time. Too little depth will always plague the Asian nations. It seemed evident to me watching the two matches last night, that one of the major differences was the depth, which the European and Sth Americans teams have and can draw upon. Asian Football everywhere across the confederation needs to work hard on that. The time has come to produce two quality teams an A and B team that can compete. Hopefully the FFA will appoint a new manager that will introduce two quality national teams for Australia ensuring plenty of game time for every player that can interchange from the A team to the B team. _____ AF
dasilva
Guest
Personally I liked to see football becoming more globalised so that we start seeing competitive matches between teams of different confederation (even clubs as well. How about a global champions league?). Break down the confederation segregation in sport and have World Cup qualifiers being allocated by merit rather then backdoor politicking . Europe don't rate Asia as they only see them play once every four years in a competitive match.I thought it was a joke when Greece was the favorite against South Korea and I predicted that Korea will comfortably beat them. When people are deciding which teams are stronger, in sport we are supposed to decide by performance on the pitch. However due to confederation segregation, people are just assuming that Asia is inferior to middling European nations based on perceptions. It's safe to say that the top teams in Asia is definitely inferior to the superpowers from Europe and South America but I do think they are good enough to be regular playoffs position and the occasional automatic qualifiers if they were qualifying in Europe. Nevertheless that can never really be proven. I remember in the other post that someone claimed that the J-league was the same standard as the Turkish league minus the big 2 clubs. Now that may be right or wrong. Who knows? but we will never see that hypothesis being tested out on the pitch which is what sport is about. The only way Asia and the other confederation will get respect is by standing on its two feet, playing regularly against the big confederation and proving them that they are good enough. Unfortunately, they only get that chance once every 4 years.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
We dont pitty patty about sure but our games are always entertaining, most European fans will admit that. We usually play to win, and when we don't we ship 4 goals. Plenty of red cards and ref abuse too. We contribute a lot too entertainment as Spain and Chile aren't very representative of what their confederations bring to the table either. I am pretty sure most neutrals would rather watch us than Switzerland. Our record at the world cup Japan 06 - amazing come back in a 4 goal game Brazil 06 - As the minnow in this group we were exepcted to play 10 men behind the ball and we didn't, much better than how a lot of teams handled the seed this time. 2 goals Croatia 06 - 5 stars for drama and 4 goals Italy 06 - had a few dull moments but red card and dramatic finish Germany 10 - we played our part in saving the goal average for the tournament when it was a big issue with 4 goals. Another red card too Ghana 10 - 2 goals is actaully pretty good for this tournament, another red card, a defender left pouring blood and fairly open game. Serbia 10 - No red card unfortunately but 3 goals and and a big incident after the whistle (some credit to Serbia their) Now “entertainment” might seem a strange consideration for handing out world cup spots but it’s pretty clear Blatter probably considers it more important than a fair tournament or the best team winning.
Davstar
Guest
I hate to say this but Australia dont play very attactive football and this World cup Japan have been boring to watch. SO i dont think giving spots to asia is the solution...
Davstar
Guest
LIsten take Japan, Australia and South Korea out of asia and who is left? Roger is correct you wont be taken seriously untill you can produce players that can play at the highest level week in week out not just rise to the occasion now and then. I do think Africa is overated they have shown they simply cant play Ivory coast disgraced them self against brazil and Ghana didnt deserve to make it out of the group. Out of 6 teams only one made it to the round of 16, thus being in their own continent is a poor effort imo. North, Center and Carrabian only had three teams, they all played offensive football 2 of them made it to the 2nd round. Their confed has teams like costa rica and El salvado etc if anything they showd they are the 3rd best confederation this WC. Asia has improved greatly but its still miles behind Europe and South America, untill asia has at least 1 players on the books in every major club then we cant expect to be taken as a serious threat
Davstar
Guest
I was going for Japan i wanted them to win however Fozz was right they didnt deserve to win, what would be the point of them holding 10 men behind the ball and winning? they wouldnt of gone any further, Japan never looked like they wanted to win the match, so they didnt. I dont like counter offensive football i think its a waste of a round of 16 place for teams who play that way , its not like Japan were playing Brazil they should of went out to try and win the match. Unlike the group stage its not about points you either win and your in or lose and your out. Its silly for teams to play for the draw or hope for the win, Paraguay were not much more attaking but they at least tryed to get the opening goal and spark life into the game. Japan did a good job getting to the round of 16 but they didnt try to win the game and thats wythey lost.
AndyRoo
Roar Guru
From a purely entertainment perspective I hope they reduce Europes share. Too many of their teams were solid and professional but boring. If they keep their democratic qualifying system that means we get sides like Greece, Slovenia, Slovakia, Denmark and Switzerland then I am all for taking 1 to 2 slots of them and gettign rid of some play offs. If they had a system that got rid of the minnows quicker (like the AFC's group's of 4) and meant teams had to go through a tougher second phase to qualify I think that would lead to Europe bringing a lot more to the table.