U-20 WC: Japan 3 - 1 Scotland.

[Toke-E-Yo]

U-20 Japan are off to a fine start in the World Youth Championships, in Canada, claiming a solid, 3-1 victory which could easily have been even more lopsided, if not for the fine play in net of Scotland's Andrew McNeil. Though news reports from Europe seem to blame the keeper for the loss, this smacks of self-delusion. Though he will probably accept the blame for the third goal, which he failed to secure when it looked like he had blocked Jun Aoyama's blistering drive at the top right corner, he kept out at least three other dangerous chances for Japan which many lesser netminders would have surely been unable to stop, and he could not be faulted on the first goal, after his defence had put him in a desperate situation

A quick summary of the action is a good way to start, though we want to spend some time examining Japan's indivudual playin detail, wo we will keep the play-by-play synopsis short. Japan never looked like losing to a big, athletic, but not particularly skillful Scottish team. after spending 15 or 20 minutes getting their rhythm, Japan had two dangerous chances from Atsuto Uchida and Tsukasa Umesaki to get the action rolling. Uchida's powerful, long-range blast nearly caught McNeill stationary, and he had to get his fists up quickly to parry the powerful drive. Scrambling to recover, the Scotland keeper just managed to keep the ball from trickling over his line. Moments later McNeil was beaten by another powerful shot, from Umesaki, but it soared just over the crossbar.

The early jitters conquered, Japan started to surge forward in numbers, with Umesaki and Atom Tanaka doing much of the creative work on the two wings, but point man Kashiwagi and the strike force of Yasuhito Morishima and Kazuhisa Kawahara using the ball with great efficiency and producing a lot of good looks at goal with just a few quick, deft touches. Unfortunately, Japan still tends to waste opportunities in front of net, and they could have started the scoring off much sooner if Kawahara had not stumbled over the ball when wide open, two steps inside the box, or if Morishima had passed the ball to an unmarked Umesaki, cutting in from the left, rather than firing a poorly considered shot. Scotland dodged a bullet in the 25 minute, though, after Atom Tanaka cut past a defender and into the box, only to be bowled over by what lookeed like a push from behind. The Mexican referee -- who did a fine job throughout most of this contest -- was unwilling to award a PK chance this early in the contest, though, and the largely partican (Scottish) crowd in Victoria Stadium breathed a sigh of releif.

After failing to crack the Scotland defence with a great deal of hard work and buildup, Japan finally got the opener on a bit of luck and a lot of hustle. A long ball from deep midfield was misjudged by the Scotland defence, and Scott Cuthbert struck only air with his attempted clearance. As the ball bounded through, Morishima put on a burst of speed and chased deep into the Scotland end, forcing McNeil to race out for the attempted clearance. Two meters outside his box, McNeil met the bounding ball a half-step ahead of Morishima, but the big Cerezo centre-forward threw himself into the path of the ball, and caught the clearance right on the chin. As the ball bounded behind McNeil, Morishima shook off the impact, staggered to the ball, and scuffed it into the empty net. There followed a joyous celebration behind goal, in which the entire Japanese team pantomimed aerobic moves from the wildly popular "Billy's Boot Camp" videos, and finished off with a Sanfrecce-style arrow into the crowd.

Japan nearly struck the killing blow on the stroke of half time, when Kawahara slipped in between two defenders on a corner kick and flicked the ball on from point-blank range, but McNeil made amends for the earlier goal with a spectacular reaction save.

After the restart, however, Japan went right back to work, and with both the wing backs -- Antlers' Atsuto Uchida and Gamba's Michihiro Yasuda -- surging up the lines to join the attack, you could sense that it was just a matter of time before the second goal arrived. Umesaki turned out to be the provider, poaching a ball off the boots of Ross Campbell and then weaving through the midfield as four teammates shadowed him down the two channels. The Scotland defenders were overmatched, unable to decide whether to cover the slant pass or close down Umesaki. They took a bit too long to decide, and as he appraoched he edge of the box, Umesaki saw enough space to fire a shot at the right post, beating McNeil's dive and setting off a second "Billy's Boot Camp" celebration.

Japan should have put the contest to bed on two or three occasions in the next 10 minutes. First Kawahara unsuccessfully tried to slip a curling shot past the keeper, then Morishima was sent off to the races on a nice clearance from the back line and a one-touch feed by Kashiwagi. But Morishima tried to power the ball past McNeil when a soft chip would have done the job. Moments after that save, however, McNeil was caught out by a thundering shot from 35 yards, by Jun Aoyama, into the top right corner. The keeper got to the ball in time, but failed to control the blistering drive, and allowed it to bloop into his own net (As the old goalkeeper's saying goes -- when in doubt, use your fists).

But following their third aerobics session, the Japan defence lost their attention for a moment and allowed Snodgrass to send Celtic's Calum Elliot through the middle for a one-on-one with the keeper. Hayashi was out quickly and made a fine block of Eliot's shot, but the ball bounded right to the feet of Campbell, who squeezed the rebound into the low right corner.

However, that goal simply convinced coach Yoshida to close up shop. He brought in the defensive Masato Morishige for Kashiwagi, told his players to hold the ball and kill time, and that was that.

All in all, Japan performed exactly as we expected, and they can be quite happy with their performance against Scotland. Then again, it is crucial to keep in mind that the Scots seemed to take Japan lightly, and were clearly looking past Japan to "tougher contests" against Nigeria and Costa Rica. Indeed, the first 15 minutes of play were quite enjoyable to watch as the Scottish players and the heavily partisan crowd suddenly ran into the brick wall of reality, and were forced to come to terms with the fact that they were the second-best team on the pitch.

On the other hand, following this result it is unlikely that Japan will benefit from the element of surprise, when they face their remaining two opponents, and they will have to be extremely sharp to make sure that this early win is not wasted, and they can progress to the knockout round. To do so, Japan must avoid the lapses of concentration which cost them a goal in this contest, and understand the very different strategies that will be required to handle Nigeria and Costa Rica.

Up front, Morishima and Kawahara did a good job of finding seams in the Scottish defence, and moving the ball into position for a shot, though their finishing was not as good as it could have been. While credit goes to McNeil for saving some very good efforts, we still think that the two strikers could be a bit more effective with their shot selection. Though Kashiwagi struggled a bit in this contest, he was double-marked almost throughout, and clearly had been one of the few players Scotland scouted and were prepared to handle. Morishima has been a very impressive contributor to this squad, and his hard-working, determined, yet amiable demeanour seems to establish the emotional atmosphere for this entire team. Though every member of the squad has an extremely hard-running, no-nonsense work ethic, they do not seem tense, or "ferocious"; on the contrary, despite the alert intensity and momentum of their play, they carry an aura of calm, unflustered confidence that we have not seen in a group of youth players since the so-called "Golden Generation" in 1999. Part of this stems from the fact that the back line has so much first-team experience at the professional level, but clearly it is the good-natured, "boyish" enthusiasm of Morishima, Kawahara and Atom Tanaka that sets the standard for the entire team. Nothing could have shown this clearer than the "Billy's Boot Camp" celebrations after each goal, which were truly a team affair.

The best work on offence, however, came on the wings, where Japan was given a fair amount of space and exploited it reasonably well. The one improvement that we would have liked to see, however, involved the overlapping work of Yasuda on the left and Uchida on the right. When the two side-backs got forward, it nearly always resulted in a dangerous chance. Though it may be a bit risky, we suspect that the best way to overcome the tall, speedy and athletic Nigerians will be to get extra men into the corners. The looping cross from the sideline created one or two chances for Morishima in this match, but high balls to the middle really are not Japan's game (well . . . unless they opt to play Morishima and Mike Havenaar up front in a "twin towers" attacking line).

On the other hand, when Tanaka and Uchida, or Umesaki and Yasuda worked together in the corners, they were able to work the ball into position for either a low cross to the near post, a low-angle shot, or a diagonal pass to a player slicing in from midfield. This is exactly the sort of play that can create real danger, since Morishima, Kawahara and Kashiwagi all three have the reactions, sense of timing, and body control to create havoc on quick dashes at goal.

The defence, meanwhile, held up quite well overall, despite the power and height advantage of the Scots. They dropped their guard on one or two occasions and allowed the speedy players to slip through behind them, but they rarely allowed Scotland to win the high balls into the box, which opponents are naturally tempted to use against an opponent like Japan. It is essential that Fukumoto and Makino play tight on their men, and use their bodies to muscle opponents away from the box, if necessary, but they need to be aware of the danger from a quick through ball, which may catch them out if they play their opponent TOO tight. While keeper Akihiro Hayashi was only tested on two or three occasions, he showed good positioning and instincts throughout. However, in order to become a truly "world-class" keeper he needs to learn how to get off his line a bit faster. Given his impressive height (at least by Japanese standards), he ought to be using that advantage to limit the danger on corner kicks. In this match, he was effective when he did come out for the ball, but several times opted to stay on his line when it looked like he could have easily pulled down the cross if he had made the attempt.

Most of all, it is essential that coach Yoshida impress upon his players that they have made only the first step in what will be a very tough group to get through. Japan needs to avoid the sort of complacency that Scotland displayed, and recognise that there are no "easy" matches in this group. The next contest, against Costa Rica on Wednesday (Thursday morning, Japan time), will be the crucial one. A victory assures Japan of not only going through, but of facing a less daunting opponent in the knockout round. A draw, however, would be acceptable since four points should be more than enough to progress (the top two teams in the group go through, along with the two best third-placed teams). Costa Rica will be an interesting opponent since they are quite similar to Japan in almost every way -- a relatively small team that uses speed and quick passing to create opportunities. We will be particularly interested to see if coach Yoshida adopts the "twin towers" strategy against a relatively small opponent, with Morishima and Mike Havenaar together in the front line. Whatever happens, it should be a very exciting contest, so stay tuned.

and scotland was one of the favourites to win theYWC.....pwned.

[BRISTOLUK]

Originally Posted by Toke-E-Yo

and scotland was one of the favourites to win theYWC.....pwned.

In who's eyes? Only 7 teams less likely to win according to the odds list I saw.

Before the game the commentators actually said Japan were clear favourites to win the match.

It was a good win, but let's not pretend it was something it wasn't.

[Toke-E-Yo]

Originally Posted by BRISTOLUK

In who's eyes? Only 7 teams less likely to win according to the odds list I saw.

Before the game the commentators actually said Japan were clear favourites to win the match.

It was a good win, but let's not pretend it was something it wasn't.

that was just the last time i read it. lol.

[normthebarman]

Don't get too exited yet. This is the same Scotland side that got gubbed 4-0 off Spain in the 1st game of the European Championships.

The same side that then proceeded to get their arse in gear and go all the way to the final and then scare the bejeesus out of the same Spain side in a narrow 2-1 defeat.

It's only the 1st game and there's still plenty of time to go.

Although it has to be said, we were absolutely dire. I was expecting one cock up from the Hibs goalie, but was given two. That's value for money right there....

[BRISTOLUK]

Originally Posted by normthebarman

I was expecting one cock up from the Hibs goalie, but was given two. That's value for money right there....

That third goal....just like old times. But it was so much easier to laugh back then when we could point to half a dozen better England keepers....unlike now