The morning after the day before – Reflections on an opening win

To be honest, Kawashima was rusty in that match.

“It was a dangerous game and I’m relieved it’s over.” I think Kawashima doesn't know what dangerous is until Saturday when the Dutch invade the pitch and they say Van Persie, Sneijder, Van Der Vaart, Kuyt, Van Bommel, Van Der Weil who by the way was dribbling and cutting defenses far upfield (and later Elia, even Babel and Robben?) will start to rev up and shine. I think Tulio was too arrogant in his comment, because they didn't defend WELL at all (gaps, spaces and left side was uncovered etc., slow to react), but in reality Cameroon didnt attack with their usual flair and compentency. And if Tulio gets another Yellow (which he likely will), their crucial match with Denmark will be even more impossible to get a win. But Okada is getting more realistic, and this is the BEST weapon they need as I have been saying along. But clearly, changing your set up at the last minute and getting an opponent error to score a lucky goal (out of a total of 3 shots only in the whole game) is indeed a very very UNREALISTIC way to lead a national team at this level…
and to be realistic, this Saturday all this will backfire, so the fans should celebrate quickly and then get back down to earth. this way, no more pain for the fans. and yes, i agree, Kawashima was kinda off and he will be nervous for the rest of the tournament.
I feel sorry for Nakamura, who knows now that he really is over the hill..

Here comes Mr Negative xD, nah I know you are being realistic, look right now all we have to do is have faith in them. Okada didn't make stupid comments for once, and he didn't celebrate Hondas goal.
“He was in the right place when the chance fell his way. He has a knack of doing that.”- Inamoto, I even think Inamotos comments about Hondas goal had an ambiguous meaning.
We are happy that they finally got a goal that was not an OG and that won the game, but we're not happy because they didn't play fantastically , but what more can you expect from them? All we can do is pray to the football gods to help Japan do really well against the Dutch. The Dutch weren't fantastic against the Danes neither. They only managed to win because one goal was an Own goal by Simon Poulsen.

Well what you've actually been saying all along is that that we would lose all three matches

A cookie if you can watch the whole thing.

0:30 – Easymode
1:15 – Decent
2:00 – Hard
All 2:47 – Godlike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc_A1SqiPWE

Short version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTcONu_NBbw

> Okada didn't celebrate Honda's goal.

ORLY? 1:06 – 1:09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du-nwKyJP2c

Wheres the preview lol?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du-nwKyJP2c

oops my bad, damn Santo, Sam and Ed.

Many people, including experts, said the same the thing. I am sure all of us here supporting the Blue are relieved but have high mixed feelings don't we? Aside from the blunder of Cameroon and lucky Honda, what have we got to show against the the Dutch and Danes and the top teams? I just dont want the coach, players and fans to think this win means suddenly Japan is a best 4 contendor again. This is the kind of foolish reasoning that has dismantled the team, and even the Cameroon game (despite the ambiguous win) showed there are still more negatives than positives (only 3 SHOTS???, come on, you can't win properly like this, defense was edgy and seems haphazard, Abe seems lost at key moments and thus the long shots, left side back was sooooooooooooo open, jezus, and would you say the MF and attacking totally were almost absent, and you can't depend on Matsui to make that cross all the time, Okubo was SHIT and they should start Okazaki, really, and to be honest, this experiment with Honda will be all over and totally dismantled in the Dutch game or by next round. If they could survive and scape by this set up, then Okada is guus hiddink?? This fan site is about we expressing our concerns and to stay realistic, not to just blindly say “gambare gambare nippon.” Come on, WE NEED REAL REAL REAL SOCCER AT THIS TOP TOP LEVEL. Look at the Dutch. They had an off day against Denmark and they still could win somewhat convincingly because they create chances amazingly well, EVEN on their off day and despite the rock solid defense of Denmark. On Saturday, it is expected the Dutch will start to show their real stuff, and this is scary. Some fans are now climing Japan will beat the Dutch 2-0 or 1-0 or 3-2…
COME ON, this is the kind of shit that causes us pain later and really throw the team into the wrong attitude direction once they start thinking they are equal with the big big teams (and the Dutch are like 4 classes above Japan and Cameroon!, am i wrong??). No more pain for the fans. You got to stay realistic. Even that Sergio now says the win puts UNBELIEVABLE more pressure on Japan not to screw up their 3 point lead, but he thinks more likely Japan will crumble. Now, that's a realist. IT is not negativity. it is being realistic so as to make the team realize what they are missing and what they should realistically try to do game by game, opponent by opponent.

If any of you guys watch the NHK new analysis (Comments by that former J league goalkeeper) – he was very realistic and said the Japan defence is leaky, and those gaps and slow reaction and confusion at times will be exploited by attacking teams far more advanced and skillful than Cameroon. Even if Japan puts 11 men at the back, it is quite doutful they could hold off the Dutch for over 90 minutes, as the Dutch specialize in tearing apart tough defenses with amazing fluidity and power. NHK tries to balance hoopla with the realization that all this good feeling from a lucky win will drop like a very hot potato comes Saturday. Japan really does not have the level to beat the tough teams at this level.

Anyone predicting comfortable wins against the Dutch on the back of this one win is clearly deluded – but if there's one thing about World Cups, it's the fact that thousands of part time fans come out of the wood work proclaiming all sorts of rubbish. These are the same fools who here in England loudly proclaim that England should be beating USA 4-0 or we may as well all go home…

On here we all have varying levels of realism but I don't think any of us would presume that Japan are likely to beat Holland – frankly I think we mostly expect a defeat, while naturally hoping that things turn out better than that.

Obviously Japan will clearly & comfortable beat the Netherlands 3-0 inflicting utter humiliation on the Dutch. This is the truth and undeniable fact.

It sounds like you got that news from the North Korean state news agency!

Okada benched big-name players, stuck to his heavily-criticized system and lineup and outsmarted Le Guen to win a victory that was neither lucky nor undeserved. This is a massive achievement and Okada deserves credit. You stated with certainty that Japan wouldn't even get a point and I was pointing out that you underestimated Okada and the team. I agree that it can be productive to criticize but in this case it turns out that your criticism was too heavy.

Of course there are better players whom Okada didn't chose or more suitable tactics that Okada should have been trying, but with 3 points Okada has already been a relative success. I don't expect a result against Holland, but a draw against Denmark is definitely not unrealistic.

Are you crazy? Only 3-0?? Surely we can score more than that

If they score at least one goal I'll be happy, If they score a flurry of goals I'll be ecstatic, if they lose terribly, my life will turn upside down until Germany plays and if they win I'll be fine .

Blah, my friends still fail to understand my love for the game. I owe her two movie nights because she had planned to watch Get him to the Greek when the Netherlands v Japan game is going to be on , in which I declined xD, and the movie is on at 9:30pm when the game starts. She's pretty disappointed with me, again, she fails to remember I take football seriously xD

Crap talk show is crap?

Aha such a tomboy.

They're not that bad. There needs to be some humour in the game which the World Game team lack.

I don't want to miss it xD I hate watching replays, I won't live the moment. Plus I cbf getting home from Crown.

Man, if Ono had been selected in the squad, and if those damn vuvuzelas didn't exist, Ono could of translated dutch to japanese.

If you think my criticism is wrong because Japan won in such dubious circumstances, then this site is only for those who dwell on false confidence. Yes, I still say it is false confidence because a win over Cameroon brought about more the kind of woozy talk that is peppering the media claiming the Dutch are beatable by a score of 2-1, 2-0 and some idiots (who claim to be soccer observers) say 3-2 is not impossible. This is the kind of woozy mentality that causes the team to buckle when reality strikes them. I believe my “heavy criticism” was useful as it is such criticism that got Okada thinking.
Beating the Dutch is welcome miracle, but then again, the operative word here is “miracle.” The Cameroon match was sort of a miracle (TV quote, not mine), but do you expect another miracle with the Dutch and yet another one with the Danes (who deceptively look like they are weaker than the Japanese, but experts say no) and another miracle at the next round? If Japan can beat Holland soundingly, then there is cause to fete Okada and his unusual and haphazard way of coaching, but trust me, I wouldn't set up the confetti yet. Even the game against the Danes will give me a heart attack. But you are right, I will tone down my strict views and just see what happens. Hoping is just too painful… because seeing Japan making only 2-3 real shots was just too unbelievable… how the hell will they even get a draw like this? much less defeat/draw the Danes or Italy or Paraguay at the next round…? This is what I mean by being heavily critical, because at this level now, you cannot afford not to be totally critical of your game plan.

There's certainly plenty of room on this blog site for criticism, I've dished out loads myself believe me! For me, the win over Cameroon came as such a pleasant surprise that it's caused a little reassessment of Japan and Okada, but you are right that it was a fortuitous win in many ways. Another way of looking at it would be that the game plan worked. That said, a huge all round improvement is undoubtedly needed if anything is to be taken from the next match.

ok fine then why dont u replace okada then! you are so negative so what if dutch are stronger! what matter is japan did their best and they are in the world cup compare to other countries which is not even qualified.. ur such an ungrateful cow..be thankful they win even only with cameroon at least they can go home with pride!

Edited to remove a bit of name calling.

By all means disagree with each other and me, but no name calling please.

Its because toyoda was the taxi driver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzXTljMhX4I

Uh oh. Aidan has the POWER to edit people's comments!

I have the power!! mwah ha ha (scary laugh…)

To be fair it was very mild, nothing particularly bad, but best to stop anything like that before it starts – no need for it.

They certainly should be able to go home with pride havng beaten Cameroon, no matter what happens in the remaining matches.

Let's not forget that this is the first ever win outside of Japan in the World Cup, and whatever the mathod of achieving that, it was achieved and that made me rather happy!