Japan 0 China 0; No blood, No Goals, So Boring

You know the phrase, "you can't score a goal unless you take a shot?" Well, its very true, and perhaps a lesson that team Japan never received. For the second straight match, the Samurai Blue dominated possession, and dictated the pace of game, but failed to capitalize. How many times have you heard that before? We had plenty of opportunities to cross the ball into the box, but nobody seemed to be able to connect or bring the ball down to create any real scoring

Advice for Hirayama: More football and less sneezing.

opportunities. If anything was clearly apparent to me today, it was that team Japan, without a Keisuke Honda, Makoto Hasebe, or even Shunsuke Nakamura are without any real playmakers that can threaten the goal from midfield. During the broadcast, of of the Japanese commentators made the point that there were chances where players had the option to shoot or pass, opted to pass, and nothing came from it. If they had shot, however, there were strikers in the box who could have gotten a deflection. Without any kind of real aerial threat, Japan should really focus their attacking strategy on the concept that shooting more will provide more opportunities to score rather than looking for that one golden pass.

Notice that #3'a foot is nowhere near the ball. Also notice that Uchida's ass is very near #3's head. What's going on here?

Still, as few as they were, Japan did have several chances to score a goal. Keiji Tamada missed a couple shots right in front of goal, Kengo Nakamura missed one from about 3 meters out, Atsuto Uchida had a brilliant crack that just missed off of the left post from 10 meters out, and Yoshito Okubo had a volley destined to find the net luckily blocked by a Chinese defender.

Give credit where its due, though, China played quite well, if not a tad defensive for my taste. Hao Rong sent a laser beam just wide of goal from outside the box in the first half. In the second, a mishandled cross from Narazaki sent Tulio scrambling to make a play on the ball just before it crawled into the net, and finally in the 80th minute, Yuto Nagatomo was called for a hand ball in the box, awarding China a PK. Yango Hao took the kick, shot low and to the left, and found the diving hands of Seigo Narazaki in what ended up saving the day for Japan and retaining the 0-0 scoreline.

No clear man-of-the-match today but kudos to Narazaki for a great save on the PK to save the day, and also some love for Uchida who I think is our best option at side back.

On a plus note, the Chinese and Japanese players did a great job of keeping things civil. I expected more "rough" play between the two, but was pleasantly "disappointed" by their behavior.