Hugo Chavez is looking for Venezuela to show those capitalist Japanese pigs how democratic socialism produces superior football players...The main story for tomorrow's match centers around the return of wayward Mitsuo Ogasawara to the national stage. Ogasawara, who was elected the J. League Player of the Year in 2009, has made 53 total appearances for the Blue Samurai including spots on both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup teams. The media has speculated that Ogasawara's selection may be a sign that manager, Takeshi Okada, has begun to waiver in his confidence of playmaker and team leader, Shunsuke Nakamura, due to Nakamura's poor form for Spanish club Espanyol.
I find Ogasawara to be a fine player, and one of Japan's best. I shook my head in confusion during the 2009 qualifying campaign wondering why Okada refused to call him up. Even if Ogasawara could not win a starting spot, I figured he would be a solid bench player. Because Japan are scheduled to face China on Saturday, and more importantly face their biggest rivals, South Korea the following week as part of the 2010 East Asian Championships, I would not be surprised if Okada decides to rest his usual starters for tomorrow's match.
Look for fringe players, and newly promoted youngsters to try and make an impression on Okada when given the chance. With only a handful of matches left before South Africa, Okada will be putting heavy weight on individual performances to finalize his World Cup roster.
If I had to guess, I would expect to see Okada play Ogasawara, Naohiro Ishikawa, Shinji Kagawa, and maybe a couple usual starters (Endo, K Nakamura, Inamoto) to add balance in the midfield. With the exception of Ogasawara, the 20 year old Kagawa may be the player to watch closest in the development to the World Cup. He has played the key role for his club, and has been watched closely by many European clubs, including a speculative deal with VVV-Venlo, that almost saw him replacing the departure of Keisuke Honda.
On defense, if Okada elects to rest Tulio and Nakazawa, look for Daiki Iwamasa, and maybe Yuki Abe to play center. The starting side backs are up in the air as Uchida, Nagatoma, Tokunaga, and Komano have all proven effective and reliable.
Up front, I would like to see Sota Hirayama get the start as he is coming off of a superb national team debut when he scored a hatrick against Yemen in a 3-2 win. Shinji Okazaki has certainly won one of the two starting forward positions for the WC team, and without the presence of Catania striker Takayuki Morimoto, look for Okubo, Tamada, Tamada, and Koroki to fight for consideration.
My prediction:
I know I did not touch at all on the Venezuelan team, but as I do not expect them to play their A team, there were not any individual players to focus on. Japan's domestic players will be better than Venezuela's B team and on home soil I do not see Venezuela standing a chance. Japan wins 3-0.
Final Thoughts:
Now, I'm not Takeshi Okada, and I don't pretend to be. But if I were him, I would be scouting the fringe players and giving the usual suspects heavy doses of flinstone vitamins, tempur-pedic futons, and some quality Asian women massages so they're fresh for next week against South Korea. I say 3-0 Japan, but honestly who cares if they win 10-0 or lose in a 25-24 epic Kung Fu Soccer shootout? Venezuela is not a World Cup caliber team and beating them is like beating teams like Qatar, we don't get a realistic measure of what the WC will be like. Furthermore, a huge win or close loss against Venezuela means nothing compared to the implications of South Korea's match. If Okada does not win, or draw the Koreans in a high intensity match, the Japanese media will have his balls packaged and pickled as umeboshi.
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