Can Nakamura lead Japan past group stage at World Cup?

By Noor Farhan/Red Sports

Japan are traditionally one of the stronger Asian teams during the World Cup but they are still yet to make it past the last 16.

Despite their recent friendly defeats, Japan showed a well-drilled attacking side that can stand toe-to-toe with the big teams.

Will they finally outperform Asian rivals South Korea this time round? Or will the Samurai Blues be ousted by their more illustrious Asian rivals as always?

In a country well-known for its good food, anime and picturesque landscapes, we now present you the national team hailing from the land of the rising sun.

World Cup pedigree
Japan, co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup, have consistently qualified for the tournament since 1998. In 2002, they made it to the second round. That was their best achievement.

Qualification
Japan was among the first few countries to qualify after their group stage victory over Uzbekistan in their Asian Qualifying Group.

Achievement in 2006 World Cup
In the previous tournament in 2006, they finished the group stages without a win, losing 1-3 to Australia, drawing 0-0 with Croatia and losing 1-4 to Brazil.

Coach
The Samurai Blues have coach Takeshi Okada at the helm who was also the national team coach in 1998. He resigned after the defeats in the 1998 group stage.

He took over from Ivica Osim in 2007 after the latter suffered a stroke and oversaw qualification for the 2010 World Cup. Okada was a former defender plying his craft in Japan and made 26 appearances for his country.

Captain
Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi will captain Japan going to South Africa. The most capped player in the squad, Kawaguchi broken his leg during a league match against Kyoto Sanga, and seemed destined to not make it into the World Cup squad. His deputy, Seigo Narazaki, filled in impressively between the sticks during qualifying.

However, Kawaguchi made a surprisingly quick recovery and was reinstated as the first-choice keeper in May 2010.

Players to Watch
Shunsuke Nakamura — Now with Yokohama F. Marinos, Shunsuke Nakamura used to carve up defences and curl magnificent free kicks for fun back at Celtic.

After failing to find his form at Espanyol, he returned to Japan in search of regular first-team football. He is Japan’s best player for now, ably replacing his predecessor Hidetoshi Nakata in midfield.

Makoto Hasebe — His driving runs and high work rate sees Hasebe slot in effortlessly in midfield with former Bundesliga champions Vfl Wolfsburg. He will look to continue his good club form for his country in the midfield engine room.

Keisuke Honda – The 23-year old midfielder is a rising talent who plays for Russian giants CSKA Moscow. Formerly of Dutch club VVV Venlo where fans nicknamed him Keizer Keisuke (Emperor Keisuke), this talented and young playmaker will seek to use this year’s tournament as a stepping stone to bigger things in his career. Among his many weapons in his arsenal is his free kick skill.

Team Strengths
Shunsuke Nakamura (formerly of Celtic and Espanyol), Keisuke Honda ( CSKA Moscow), Junichi Inamoto (formerly of Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt) and Makoto Hasebe (Vfl Wolfsburg) are talented players with European experience.

As a result, coach Takeshi Okada might accommodate all of them in a 4-5-1 formation to maximise his side’s strengths.

In the striking department, they also have former Wolfsburg player Yoshito Okubo and Takuyuki Morimoto, the young starlet who plays for Italian side Catania.

Team Weaknesses
As seen with Tulio Tanaka’s spate of own goals against England and Ivory Coast, coach Okada will have to think of ways to improve his side’s defence.

He might have to field defensive midfielders Yasuhito Endo of Gamba Osaka and Yuki Abe of the Urawa Red Diamonds ot help out his leaky defence.

However, Okada has a tendency to play attacking football. His penchant for a highly offensive game has drawn the ire of former coach Philippe Troussier, who commented on the naivety of that idea at international level since Japan has few well-established forwards to put away chances.

Overall Squad Strength
Certainly a porous defence and an attack that does not score many goals do not bode well for the Japanese.

The European based players will have to raise their game and put in consistent performances so that they would at least make it to the last 16.

Probable Starting 11
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Captain, GK, Jubilo Iwata), Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F. Marinos), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka) , Yuki Abe (Urawa Red Diamonds), Makoto Hasebe (VfL Wolfsburg), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe).

1st Round Predictions
Japan are placed in a relatively tough group with the Netherlands, Cameroon and Denmark. While Cameroon and Denmark are not pushovers, they are not impossible to defeat.

With the number of European-based players in their squad, plus their domestic talents, they might just scrape through into the last 16 in second place.

Ed’s note: Red Sports will be covering the World Cup daily and so join us each day to share your opinions about the night’s action.

For the World Cup fixtures list with Singapore broadcast timings as well as group tables and the list of CCs with free screenings, go to: http://redsports.sg/2010-world-cup-fixtures-groups/

GROUP E	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
HOLLAND	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
JAPAN	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
DENMARK	3	1	0	2	3	6	-3	3
CAMEROON	3	0	0	3	2	5	-3	0

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For the World Cup fixtures list with Singapore broadcast timings as well as group tables and the list of CCs with free screenings, go to: http://redsports.sg/2010-world-cup-fixtures-groups/

Animated flag images by 3DFlags.com