Japan the next football power country?
Monday, 10 December 07, 06:43 AM · Comments(7)
I remember a time when we would pick on that kid who was not a very good player by saying that he played like Japanese. Well that certainly is a thing of the past.
They still make mistakes that are almost impossible to understand like when … missed a certain goal from inside the box, face to face with the goalie but in general when they make a mistake is by trying an step-over, a curvy pass or a fancy move. They have learned.
In 1993 when the J-League was launched the idea of having a Japanese team playing in a World Level championship seemed like a far, far, far, away dream but some very important people believed in it. Zico was one of them. The maestro of the great Flamengo from the 80’s and the main component of the best team who didn’t win a World Cup – Brazil of 1982 – arrived in Japan to be what Pele was for the NY Cosmos in the the late 70’s. The only difference is that the conservative, traditionalist, paternalist Japanese culture were open for this revolution.
The most popular sports in Japan were, at the time, baseball and sumo. Football existed but in a very amateur way. But the idea of popularizing football was very well accepted and the presence of foreign players like Zico, who attracted a bunch of other Brazilians with him was exactly what the Japanese Football Federation needed to transform the sport here.
Today Japanese players learned a lot from this “in-house exchange program” and even though almost every team has at least one Brazilian on their squad, one can see the arising of some good domestic talents.
And the fans… Oh, the fans…
Japanese football fans LOVE their teams. They wear the colors, they support the players, they chant ALL THE TIME! I’m honestly extremely pleased with what I saw here on a Monday night. I just can’t wait to see what show the Reds fans are going to put up against Milan.
So if Japan doesn’t have the easy to beat football how should we label that kid who is so bad that he ends up as the goalkeeper. Let me think… hmmm… what about English?
“Hey kid, you’re so bad that it seems you’re from England…”
I’m Mano Gil, writing from the Toyota Stadium, exclusively for Ole Ole.
Sayonara!!!
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I am sorry, I know the atmosphere is great, the japanese are nice... but next football power.. in your dreams, baby
I didn't say that Japan will become a football power country... I made a question exactly because whenever we thought of bad football we used to think about Japan but it's like that anymore... the
tittle was just to tease, to provoke...
Japan will no longer be a laughing point in the world of football but they had better start winning and winning alot. ..........Parity in international play is a good thing so if Japan ends up
beating a France or Italy it can only be good for the game
Japan was never a laughing point in footy. Beating Italy in '02 proved that.
Dirtbag, Japs know their football
One win in 02 is just that one win. Laughing point was harsh but they were not considered a threat to the "superpowers" of football. Yes they do know their football and we will see if know it can
transition to wins in "big time" football
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Japanese kids in my school are all amazing at football but in reality the Japanese national team will never be great enough to challenge countries like Brazil and Italy
Japanese kids in my school are all amazing at football but in reality the Japanese national team will never be great enough to challenge countries like Brazil and Italy