Japan 0 - 0 Venezuela 
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I am REALLY getting tired of saying this.
Yoshito Okubo is not able to perform at the international level. He never could. He never will. Everyone who has ever seen him play in a Samurai Blue uniform KNOWS that he never will. Well . . . everybody except one dimwitted NT coach.
Tonight, however, Okubo should buy Shuhei Tokunaga a beer, since Tokunaga managed to look so out of place in an international football match that a small handful of viewers might not have notices how poorly Okubo was playing. How bad was it? Well put it this way. In the 59 minute Yuichi Komano came on, and on the next three consecutive plays he nearly managed to unlock the tight Venezuela defence which up to that point had allowed few clear cut opportunities. At that point the two central defenders could be heard screaming at their midfield and pointing at Komano. "Hey, wake up! You actually have to DEFEND the left wing now."
There really isnt much more to say about this contest. You could do a detailed dissection of the performances of all the various players, but that really is pointless because none of them did much to impress. Ogasawara showed a few flashes, and Hirayama looked like he might have been a bit more of a threat if he had been starting in place of Okubo, instead of used as a late sub for Kengo Nakamura. But apart from that, it was pretty uninspiring. When the broadcast began, and I saw a half-empty stadium in Oita I wondered why so few fans managed to turn out. But I guess they know more than I do. If given the choice, Id refuse to pay good money to watch this crap, too.
So . . . bring on Hong Kong!
Maybe next week Japan can even manage to score a goal.
