Asia Cups keep getting worse...but lol @ Australia they r so pathetic
:rofl2:
Man your UAE team so bad in the first half, it was unreal.
Anyway here is some of my intakes on the game.
We moved the ball extremely well even our standards. The ball movement was outstanding, and Endo, who wasnt highly regarded by Zico, really showed his class and tactical awareness. He is a real intelligent player, and personally one of the most underrated player in J-League. Its pity Shunsuke is in the NT, because people can't see his free-kicks in the National team.
Also, another factor that is going for us is Takahara Naohito has fully regained his form and banging in like he used to b4 he went to Germany. The guy must be the unluckiest person in the world in terms of injuries.
And Nakazawa is a real class. I am glad he became the fulcrum of our defence. Miyamoto Tsuneyoshi is a real has been and as physical as Victoria Beckam. Debut for Mizuno in a big competition is also a plus. The boy is the future of our NT. He was a bit nervous and couldnt express himself, but his vision, touch, and directness is a level above everybody else. Mizuno fulling the strings, and Morimoto providing that punch up front is truly a mouth watering prospect.
Now here are the negatives. UAE was pressing as much as we do in the local team - well if they pressed that is. At one stage endo run 15 yards to run into space, and you couldn't see a single UAE player picking him up. Sorry, but you cant play with such lax attitude at this level of play. The marking so shockingly bad. With Malaysia they got to be the worst team in tournament. Secondly, defensive spacing wasnt quite as good as it could have been. I love Abe Yuki as a player. Ability to pass, find players in space, and hit set pieces in something I highly value. But the guy is a registra a la Pirlo, which leaves Nakazawa as a only true defensive unit in that backline. Good teams like Korea, and Iran will capitalize on that. Kaji is another weakness IMO. He is kind of folklore hero but in terms of talent he isnt that great. Korea left winger looked one heck of player, with bags of trickery, crossing ability and pace. Kaji won't be good enough to stop him one on one. GK is another issue IMO. Kawaguchi swings from bad to good every second, and he is veteran. He will either be liability or match winner. Against UAE he looked like former.
I like our chances, and I feel if we play up to our best we should in it, but Korea and Iran, especially Korea, looks like they match up well in our team. If teams presses our team up, and play rough we might find it hard to move the ball as slick as we did yesterday. But if that happens, I don't think we have enough defensive presence to carry our team through.