Oh god. Stevan Gerrard is on my screen. Time to turn off for tonight before I break something expensive.
Day 8: Japan vs. Greece
- Thread starter gooDevil
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Iran vs Greece should be fascinating game.
I used to play as a defender and even I am disgusted by that statement!
South Korea have played better than Japan.
Any financial aid to Greece has got to be over after this.
Do teams in the Greek league play the same special brand of soul destroying football that the national team does?
oh well, it's over. let us never mention this game again
Greece have more points than Australia.
fecking hell
fecking hell
and spainGreece have more points than Australia.
fecking hell
aaaand England
And Honda was an absolute car crash tonight. Full scale master cylinder flooding, brake boiled, gasket failure, suspension snapped, take it back to the dealership implosion.
Japan passing outside the box and making crosses but there's no way you can beat the Greeks with high crosses.
Couldn't play those quick one touch passes at the final line nor make penetrating dribbles.
Having Yoshida in the attacking as a target actually hinders the offense because he doesn't have agility.
What's the use of taking Saito the dribbler if Zacc doesn't use him?
What's the use of not using the final sub when we needed 3pts?
Well, there goes four years of preparation. Disband this team, bring on a new coach and a new team.
Couldn't play those quick one touch passes at the final line nor make penetrating dribbles.
Having Yoshida in the attacking as a target actually hinders the offense because he doesn't have agility.
What's the use of taking Saito the dribbler if Zacc doesn't use him?
What's the use of not using the final sub when we needed 3pts?
Well, there goes four years of preparation. Disband this team, bring on a new coach and a new team.
I enjoy good defending by the defenders.
Not a full defensive team that has nothing much to offer in attack.
Iran vs Greece should be fascinating game.
as long as one team provides attacking threat it's ok, Nigera offered nothing at all but when Kagawa came on there was actually some really good play from Japan at times.@Mad Winger What say you!
South Korea were wank too mate, their only goal never should have happened. Iran were even worse.
Australia are the only "Asian" team I've been impressed by so far.
They deserved that goal as they were better than Russia up to that point, it was a close game. Do you have something against Asians or something.
Japan have been disappointing.
Was quite an interesting game if not entertaining. How do Greece keep managing to get to these tournaments? Awful team, park the bus always. Japan lacked quality though really poor so far from them. Still some hope.
wow. turns out that greece must be pretty good then.
Yeah, he has been awful for Milan as well. Russia really seems to spoil careers, it's almost like in 50's boxing: "they never come back" (if they move to russia).
Meh... Greece made it hard for Japan. Once they started parking the bus, this game had 0-0 written all over it. Japan lack individual strength in front of goal, so it was inevitable, really. I think every other top team would have followed Japan's approach. The difference is that they would have managed to tap in one of those crosses, or maybe score from a long-shot. The red card was actually the worst thing that could have happened to the game. Before that, Greece was at least occasionally trying to attack.
Japan needs a miracle now.
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Wish Japan still had the fast-moving Honda before the knee injury...
When I start thinking about things that are no longer it means I'm really bummed.
It would be funny if Greece beat Ivory Coast 1-0 just to see the reaction in this forum.
Imagine if Greece pulled off a "2004" in this world cup LOL.
Imagine if Greece pulled off a "2004" in this world cup LOL.
If that happens, Bayern will buy Sokratis from Dortmund.
christ imagine that.
Teams like Greece may win the Euros but they don't win the World Cup (with all respect to them).
I think a lot of people who went to Russia in the 50s never went back
On the one hand, I feel like you can't blame Greece for parking the bus down a man for 60 minutes... On the other hand, as an ethnic Greek who watches all of their games, this was a pretty typical performance.
They got second in our qualifying group, level on points, despite us scoring 18 goals more then them (they scored 12 goals in 10 games ffs, only beating Liechtenstein 1-0 ). It was so frustrating as we won 8 and drew 1 game (including destroying them when we played) and yet they were still somehow level on points. They know how to grind out results that's for sure, but they are clueless going forward. Just awful to watch.
After two games, Greece has more points than England and Spain COMBINED!!!
They should be banned from all major tournaments, such an annoying unbearable team to watch.
Actually, the draw made little difference to Japan's chances. Had they won 1-0: Greece would be out, which means Cote D'Ivoire are almost certainly going to finish on 6pts, which mean Japan needs to beat Colombia.
At the moment, they still need to beat Colombia and hope Greece don't lose against Cote D'Ivoire (or win), so doesn't really chance much. They have been up against it since Kawashima let in that 2nd goal.
Endo has the be the most stylish shittest player ever. I know he's ancient but come on..
Thinks he's the Asian Pirlo or something
Thinks he's the Asian Pirlo or something
Ive been talking up Japan for the past year. Now, all my friends are looking at me like I know feck all.
So have I. I've been left looking like an utter fool.
I really wanted them to go far though. Really feel bad for them. They might still go through, but it would take an incredible bit of luck for that to happen. Can't see them beat Colombia the way they have been playing.
It'd be interesting but it wouldn't happen. Gervinho's goal, dribbling, penetrating?
Japan was saying Greece won't handle dribblers well. Why couldn't they practice the plan?
I can't apologize on behalf of the NT but I really feel bad. All the Japanese fans are feeling like fools expecting they could do better.
For me, coaches and a number of players alike have been a letdown. It was as bad as watching bloody England play out there, Greeks parking the bus or not. Japan knew they had to throw the kitchen sink in, but no one did anything to force something open. The more this goes, the more I will be glad to see the back of Zaccheroni at the end of this.
There's a new generation of Japanese players coming through in a few years, but they will need higher quality coaches (with guts) to lead them where they should go. Between you and me, would you prefer a Dutch, a German or someone else as next Japan manager?
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Ten years on from 2004 and Greece is still playing the same brand of football and keep qualifying for major tournaments. Japan on the other hand looks jaded and lack of a plan.
Zacc had announced, or the JFA had announced, weeks ago that this is the last tournament he will coach for Japan.
Zacc's approach is to basically keep a very small field, specific to how many meters between the players, and keep the line up high. He established this style with mostly fixed starters throughout the four years.
Which consequently means he didn't succeed in building other options. And he wasn't the type that could flexibly counter the opponent's plans to seriously exploit Japan's weaknesses. In friendlies opponents are not always that serious. WC is different.
In fairness to Zacc, things like general physicality and agressive mentality are not easily changed, so I think JFA needs to address these issues, nationwide, starting from the kids. I've read stories about how Mexico train their youth. The solidity of the technique they show in the game isn't by accident. Japan simply needs to expose its youth players much much more to the tough international games.
Personally I don't have a realistic candidate for the next coach (well I can wish many things but let's just say not all top coaches will be interested in coaching Japan). Dutch and German both sound great. A European coach with progressive tactics, experience, preferebly WC experience, and versatility to handle different situations, and a motivator would be great.
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