Japan Appreciation Thread

[DeletedUser#1]

Would have much preferred to see more Japan than Italy for the rest of the tournament.

Great job Zach....hope you lot will come back stronger next year.

Now that's a proper champion of a continent. Not Nigeria with their shitty brand of football

[EL Patron]

unlucky, what a game

[BarrileteCosmico]

Could have wrapped up the match much earlier as well. Shame they didn't go through but they went out in style.

[timzink]

Japan were freaking unbelievable . I love how the re-defined tiki taka .That was the best game of football I have seen for a long long while. I hope Japan keep improving . With their energy and technical ability I can easily see them making the quarters at next years world cup .
Kagawa and Honda

[Arquitecto]

Is anyone surprised? Excellent crop of talent which has been supremely lead by Alberto Zaccheroni who has been responsible for bringing Japan's international football back on the map.

He deserves all the praise he gets for being the catalyst to Japanese reprisal

[B-Mac]

Kagawa was a boss today....bring that form into the season and stays healthy for United and we are laughing

[McLewis]

Kagawa had Maggio for breakfast and for leftovers all match. Caused him problems every time he ran at him.

Japan simply made Italy's backline look sluggish and slow to react, very uncommon to see that.

Also Aquilani ....just awful. Japanese midfield ran circles around him until Prandelli put him out of his misery. Waste of a sub honestly.

[farfan]

is tulio still good ? he was needed in this mach

[farfan]

Is anyone surprised? Excellent crop of talent which has been supremely lead by Alberto Zaccheroni who has been responsible for bringing Japan's international football back on the map.

He deserves all the praise he gets for being the catalyst to Japanese reprisal

you're giving him too much credit .  they had a good WC  2010 without him , and  could've made it to the quarter final with a little bit of luck .

also they had a solid defense under Takeshi Okada , zach's japan is shaky at the back .

[Gil]

They conceded 6 goals in 2 games and are already out of the tournament before the 3rd.

Like Wigan their style of football is pleasing on the eye but it means f**k all without an end result.

[Tomwin Lannister]

Fantastic to watch, I'll be watching closely in the World Cup.
However, Gil has a point. It's fine being pleasing to the eye but leaking goals left right and center does not 'entitle' you to get anything. Results come before style, and they're lacking in the former.

[djfawnz]

well they lost to italy and brazil so.......besides Zaccheroni has a really good record with japan

[FalcaoPunch]

This such a great game to watch.
Japan played so so so well. 

Such a shame they let in that goal at the end.
Plus that pk call was a bit meh and that mistake that led to the own goal reminded me of the Varane mistake in the United  game that led to a Ramos own goal. Could have easily been avoided

[Luca]

This such a great game to watch.
Japan played so so so well. 

Such a shame they let in that goal at the end.
Plus that pk call was a bit meh and that mistake that led to the own goal reminded me of the Varane mistake in the United  game that led to a Ramos own goal. Could have easily been avoided

You're forgetting their penalty and giaccherini hitting the post.
However, Japan also had a crossbar of their own which should have been a goal.

Not taking anything away from Japan, they played incredibly and I'm happy because it may force Prandelli to re-think some things.

[M99]

They were quite bad against Brazil, but regained pride against Italy. Shame they are out.

[Gil]

Another loss to a poor Mexican side. Overrated team.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

They are a good side to watch, very quick and technical but fact is they can't defend.

Wigan of the national game.

[REWB]

its just ushida, he is simply not good enough

[DeletedUser#1]

Imagine how good Japan would be if their defense was as good as Irans. Queiroz

[Pedram]

Overrated.

[Guest]

is tulio still good ? he was needed in this mach

i think he is not selected anymore because he is a bit old, guy still has it but my believes are that zaccheroni is not selecting him purely based on his age, fitness.

he was a great CB .. him and Yuji Nakazawa were great pair... back then Japan had like s..t midfield with no proper security coming from midfield.

as someone said Japan is atm just poor at CBs and striker.

[Guest]

They are a good side to watch, very quick and technical but fact is they can't defend.

Wigan of the national game.

lol its just a common legacy that is always happening to Japan.

though i am actually surprised that Japan has managed to improve their fitness side massively. i remember not long ago, japan would start so energetic and by the end of the match, everybody is worn out.

lol Japan Australia 3-1 is example..

[Guest]

its just ushida, he is simply not good enough

seriously that guy is a sucker! and omg he is even a big arrogant guy i so hate his guy. such a showoff. gotta feeling that he is selected ahead of young strong and tactically great defender like Hiroki Sakai because he has lot of fans. specially girls lol...

i dont know... i dont know to this day, that he is still a starter... even in schalke 04 he is not even that good.

hiroki sakai any day ahead of him

[Casciavit]

Japan

Watching them play against the Netherlands. They were 2-0 down, but now they've tied the game at 2-2 in the 60th minute. Got to say, there playing style is such a joy to watch. Although they aren't the strongest physically, they're great technically and Zaccheroni has done an excellent job with this team IMO.

The 2nd goal's build up was amazing, will post it once it gets uploaded on youtube.

[Forza]

Zaccheroni's Japan is the best team in Asia by a mile.

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