Japan 1 - 0 Cameroon 
Eiji Kawashima, Yuichi Komano, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuji Nakazawa, Yuto Nagatomo, Yuki Abe, Makoto Hasebe (Junichi Inamoto 88'), Yasuhito Endo, Daisuke Matsui (Shinji Okazaki 69'), Yoshito Okubo (Kisho Yano 82'), Keisuke Honda
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Before we write another word, lets simply admit that this was a job well done. While this report is bound to mention the fact that Japan made heavy work of a match against a team that we have beaten three times in the past (see? we even managed to get the reference in before the actual congratulations!) that doesnt change the fact that Japan emerged victorious for the first time in a World Cup match on foreign soil. And they did it with exactly the sort of tactics that coach Okada has been pilloried for, over the past few weeks. You can be certain that the Bespectacled One put a call in to the hotel before even leaving the stadium, and had them cue up Frank Sinatra's old classic on the karaoke machine. If anyone deserves to get sloppy drunk tonight and belt out the words "I did it myyyyyyyyy waaaaaaayyyy", that person is Takeshi Okada. It may have taken him 12 years, but he has finally managed to win his first match at World Cup 1998.
Thats right, and as cheeky as the non-typo in the above sentence might seem, we say it with respect and a certain amount of admiration. No coach we can think of has ever been forced to swallow as much undeserved criticism and humiliation as Okada did following the 1998 World Cup. Thrown into a job at the last second, by bureaucrats who needed someone suitably goatlike to take the fall for Japanj's inevitable collapse in the final stages of qualification, Okada not only managed to revive the team and make it through to France 1998, but he then followed that up with extremely creditable performances against Argentina and Croatia. If Okada's relentlessly conservative, defense-oriented game plan had not crumbled for a handful of minutes against Jamaica, and the team had made it home with even a draw, he might have moved on to a happier existence as a top match analyst and widely respected figure in Japanese football.
Instead, he was forced to retreat to the wilderness of Hokkaido, and begin his slow, patient climb back to respectability. Takeshi Okada has been carrying the burden of the 1998 World Cup for 12 long years, and it should be no surprise to anyone that he still obsesses over the team's failure to hold off a mediocre-skilled but athletically talented opponent for 90 minutes, and emerge with a hard-fought 1-0 victory. So if it sometimes has seemed like Okada was trying his utmost to replay the 1998 Jamaica match, for the past several months, the least we can do is offer some sympathetic understanding. When he finally got the chance to prove what his ultra-orthadox game plan could do, the results spoke for themselves. And more . . . much more than this . . . . he did it HIS WAY.
Okada Japan did get several very helpful breaks along the way. If not for the extremely generous intervention of Emmanuel Eboue, Okada might have persisted in his attempts to use Yasuyuki Konno at side back, with god knows what tragic results. And one can only speculate on what would have happened if Cameroon was at full strength and in top form. Though we dont happen to know which opponent was responsible for putting Alex Song out of action for this match, we nonetheless want to offer a hearty thanks.
However, it wasnt all pure luck. Give coach Okada credit for recognizing the inability of Shunsuke Nakamura to physically hold his own against strong opposition, and make the critical switch to Daisuke Matsui - a decision that Okada had to make in the face of significant criticism from the domestic press, it must be added. Matsui turned out to be a crucial contributor to the lone goal that Japan scored, just before the break. Even our favourite whipping-boy, Yoshito Okubo, managed to do what was expected of him on Monday, and for at least 60 minutes, he managed to make his mentor proud. Okubo will never manage to convince anyone that he is an effective attacking midfielder (much less a striker), but as a dogged runner who pressures the ball and disrupts the opposing team's buildup, he came through with flying colours. Takayuki Suzuki would be proud.
But now comes the hard part. Okada finally can go to bed with the words of Frank Sinatra ringing in his ears. He can lay the ghosts of 1998 to rest and feel justified at long last. Congratulations are fully deserved, and we hope Okada will accept the grateful (albeit much belated) congratulations that the press was offering him on Tuesday morning. However, when he wakes up and greets his boys on the morning after, it is essential that he understand one very important point.
1998 is dead and buried. The ultra-conservative, defensive, hard-fighting doggedness that won the day against Cameroon may have been suitable for the Japanese national team of that era, but if Okada TRULY wants to accomplish all that he can, and perhaps even make a bid to reach the semifinals, then he needs to admit, at least to himself, that a very different strategy will be needed for the remainder of the World Cup. Its time to move into the 21st century, and start playing the football for which a 21st century Japan national team is suited.
If Japan had been playing with that sort of strategy to begin with, the Cameroon match could have been a lot less nerve-wracking. If the team had come out with even a vague intention of scoring a second goal, they might have easily caught the overestended Cameroon defence out, and make the final minutes a lot easier to bear. If only we could take credit for being the first to make that observation,. Unfortunately, we are a bit late. . . . Keisuke Honda spoke almost those exact words in his postmatch interview. Its nice to know that at least some of Japan's players recognise the need to take a more aggressive stance.
Now the challenge for coach Okada is to find some way to move on from his insistence in replaying the 1998 World Cup, and start designing a strategy that can actually get some points from either Holland or Denmark. That means either replacing Yoshito Okubo with someone who deserves to be called a striker. or at the very least, admitting that Okubo cant do his tazmanian devil act for more than 60 minutes, and getting him off the pitch when he runs out of energy. He also needs to recognise that when an opponent is overextended and pressing madly for a goal, it makes a lot more sense to bring on Takayuki Morimoto, who can collect a long clearance and make the opponent pay for leaving only one man back, rather than bringing on the eponymous "Defensive Striker" Kisho Yano, to add a bit of height and muscle to the ten-men-behind-the-ball strategy.
Based on the match that the two teams played just over a year ago, we know that Japan has the ability to at least hold Holland to a standstill. They need to have a strategy that can carry them through the final 20 minutes of such a match, but we all know that it CAN be done . . . . but only IF Takeshi Okada can accept that he has proven his point at long last, and can move on. Though few would have believed it a few weeks ago, the Rising Sun News recognizes that Okada Japan does have the POTENTIAL to actually achieve Okada's goal of a semifinal berth. But to do so, he needs to start making the most of the talent at his disposal, rather than forcing a modern generation of Japanese football players to play 20th-century Japanese football.
