Skill without strength as Urawa lose to Milan

Although the expected result materialised in this game, the manner of it was far from predictable. It was not a walkover for Milan. Urawa moved and passed sharply, defended tenaciously, and threatened repeatedly in a game that was eventually decided by the individual talents of Kaka and Seedorf.

In the 68th minute, the Urawa defence were sleeping as Pirlo took a quick free-kick from the centre circle, releasing Kaka down the left. The Brazilian, who had to work hard all night to be effective, was given an easy ride and acres of space by the defender and he powered towards the touchline before pulling a low cross back across the box.

Seedorf, having been thwarted repeatedly by the Urawa keeper Tsuzuki, finally put one it with a firm sidefoot and that more or less ended the game.

Urawa had threatened repeatedly throughout the game, with incisive, creative passing, and lots of movement off the ball. Unfortunately their 32-year old Brazilian striker Washington looked more like he was 45 years old, and was especially ineffective when up against Nesta & co. It didn't help that due to a combination of nervousness and excitment, several Urawa players opted to shoot from impossible angles and ridiculous distances for large parts of the game, when a little bit of composure and vision would have helped.

Still, Urawa were worth a goal. Yamada worked a sharp shooting chance when he came on, Nene wasted a header, Washington opted to try and curl a fancy shot with a clear sight of goal when power would have sufficed, and Nagai and Suzuki both fluffed good chances.

Once they conceded the goal however, Milan simply took control and killed off the game. Whilst Urawa managed to compete well with the Italian side on a technical level, they were always struggling on the physical side of things. At the back, they were good value. Nene is a tall athlete, Tsuboi is powerful, and led by the exuberant Tulio they were able to deal with the power and pace of the Milan attacks. However, the midfield was another story. Everytime Milan had the ball, Urawa had 2 or 3 players trying to win the ball back, because they couldn't cope with the physiques of the Milan players. At 0-0 there was no urgent need to win the ball in midfield, so they held their own with positioning and movement. However after going a goal down, Milan started to pass the ball around their midfield and defence, and Urawa had no answer. Pirlo , Ambrosini, Seedorf, Oddo and Jankulovski were all too strong and athletic for Urawa to win the ball back, and Ambrosini in particular seemed to outmuscle every Urawa player on the pitch.

Ultimately, it was the same old story, one of the age old failings of Japanese football, and sadly not something that can be easily rectified. The Japanese have been criticised over the years of not being physical and competitive enough. It seems that over the past 6 or 7 years, they have really worked on this aspect of the game, and players like Inamoto, Toda, Suzuki, Tusboi, and Tulio have a fantastic competitive streak. However, in terms of physique, there is not much that one can do when faced by Europeans or South Americans who are a good deal taller and bulkier than the Japanese. Japanese footballers on average are incredibly mobile, but this isn't too helpful in ball-winning situations, and when chasing a game.