Japan 3 - 1 Denmark 
Eiji Kawashima, Yuichi Komano, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuji Nakazawa, Yuto Nagatomo, Yuki Abe, Makoto Hasebe, Yasuhito Endo (Junichi Inamoto 89'), Daisuke Matsui (Shinji Okazaki 74'), Yoshito Okubo (Yasuyuki Konno 89'), Keisuke Honda
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--Last night, the whole of Japan found itself swept up in a magical drama that only Oberon, Puck and fair Titania might have conceived - a majestic midsummernight's dream that captured the heart. The country sat in rapt attention, eyes fixed open -- for who could have slept on such a night -- and in the wee hours when the midsummer fairies make their rounds, they beheld a drama that will live in their imagination for long decades hence. At six o'clock this morning, flushed with amazement and exhiliration, this writer at last laid down in exhaustion, after that long, wakeful night, and slept more soundly and more happily than I have since . . . well, since . . . heck. Im too old to even remember that far back. What transpired last night was something that only the words of The Bard of Avon himself could fully do justice. To paraphrase Philostrate:
A play there is, my lord, some 90 minutes long
Which is as brief as I have known a play
Which, when I saw rehearsed, I must confess
Made mine eyes water; but more merry tears
The passion of loud laughter hath never shed.
By now, those of you who are visiting the Rising Sun News to read this report will have already watched the replays dozens of times, and read the words of a legion of writers, discussing and describing the events of those 90 minutes. So though we will have some words to say about Japan's performance on the day, this report will focus mainly on some unfinished business - some issues that need to be discussed in the light of day, if only so that we can all fully embrace the success that Okada Japan has brought to football fans throughout the country.
Perhaps the best place to begin is at the beginning. One comment that has been made in almost every overseas report about the match is that few people expected Japan to perform well. That comment does not ring true, however. Only the overseas press was writing Japan's chances off completely. Though the Rising Sun News has never been a huge booster of coach Okada, we noted in a report just a week before the start of the World Cup that we thought Japan had the capability to get a win, a draw and a loss. That turned out to be a slight underestimate, but certainly does not suggest that we were "writing the team off".
The misconception is not entirely the fault of the non-Japanese press; nobody expects them to understand - much less account for - the habit of Japanese people (not only in sports-related issues, but in general) to downplay their own expectations and express highly conservative forecasts. It was this character, as much as anything else, which caused the domestic sports press to savage coach Okada for his "semifinals" forecast. The feeling was that Okada was being too bold, and expressing his most optimistic hopes, rather than (as a good Japan NT coach should) a cautious minimalist target.
Having said that, we also need to admit that we - not just the press in general but the Rising Sun News in particular - failed to show Okada enough trust. Probably the best way to rectify that is to just reprint something that we wrote three years ago, when Okada first took over the National Team following the collapse of Ivica Osim, due to a sudden stroke.
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The above comments sound even more accurate today than they did when we first wrote them, in December 2007. In particular, fans of the Samurai Blue have had the opportunity over the past two months to see the conservatism and hesitancy that we identified as Okada's greatest weakness. But fortunately, we also have seen his greatest strengths. For example - as much as this writer dislikes to see the Japan NT use of Yoshito Okubo as a "shadow striker" (...and a goalless shadow striker at that), and as much as we might believe that other options could make Japan even better, it is hard to fully dismiss the success of Okada's strategy. The dogged and tireless running that Okubo has done off the ball, particularly in the Cameroon match, has kept the opposition from developing much of a rhythm in their deep midfield. This has not only made things easier for the defence; it also has opened up space for Honda and Matsui to work their offensive magic. It might not be the strategy that we would prefer, but Okada has every right to point at the results of the past ten days and say: "I Told You So"
An even more impressive success was the complete demolition of Denmark's game strategy for Thursday evening. Over the past three months, football fans have been tearing their hair out at Okada's decision to play a sagging, tight defence with very little pressure on the ball until it nears the penalty area and practically no effort to throw numbers into the attack. It may have worked in earning the team a 1-0 win over Cameroon, and it ALMOST even worked against the Dutch. But everyone who knows the true quality of the players available was certain, in their hearts, that Japan could do even BETTER if they took a more agressive stance. This is perhaps the strongest reason why Okada was so fiercely criticised ahead of the World Cup. Perhaps overseas reporters saw the strategy and assumed that it was the only way Japan could hope to win. But everyone who knew better - everyone who has more than a superficial awareness of how much talent is available - was sure that the team could play positive, beautiful football and win matches.
But on Thursday evening, the Danes came to Rustenberg expecting Japan to play the Okada-patented "4-6-0 formation", and that was exactly the basis for their own game strategy. When the Samurai Blue came out and played the same sort of football they had against Holland, back in September 2009, Denmark had no way to cope with it, and no plan B. It certainly helped that Honda scored an early goal, to take some of the pressure off, but essentially this was a match that Okada and his coaching staff won with their hard work in the chalkboard room, before the contest even kicked off. Once the two teams came out and put their respective plans into operation, Denmark didnt have a chance.
Finally, for those who are new to the site and do not have much historical knowledge about the Japan NT, there is another very important factor that must be mentioned, to explain why the team was able to perform so well in the World Cup despite some horrific performances in the run-up. Japan is the antithesis of the "clutch team" - the guys who perform best when their backs are to the wall. The truth is that even though the Samurai Blue have achieves some meaningful successes over the years, few of those have come in situations where the team was under pressure, and knew they HAD to win. Japanese players seem particularly flustered when they feel the weight of expectation on their shoulders.
It is only when they are relaxed, playing within themselves, and with no pressure to live up to expectations, that they really show their top quality. Three of the biggest successes in NT history, in fact, came in competitions where the team was widely expected to bow out early, and there was no pressure on them whatsoever - the 1999 World Youth Championships, the 2000 Asia Cup, and the 1997 match in Seoul. . . .
On that day - November 1, 1997 - a little-known coach with virtually no prior experience and even less status in the eyes of his bosses at the JFA led a demoralized and supposedly doomed squad into the lion's den, in front of 50,000 Korean fans who were celebrating their own qualification to the World Cup, a few days earlier. Okada Japan was universally expected to bow out from their challenge for a berth at France 1998, but to the amazement of one and all, his team ran riot over the Taeguk Warriors and walked off the pitch as 2-0 winners.
Following that match, a relatively young and completely unknown blogger, posting reports about Japanese football on a few message boards including one at www.wldcup.com/, applauded the fine performance of both the team, and the new "caretaker" coach. A few months later, after Japan narrowly dropped a 1-0 decision to Argentina ( but only after driving Gabriel Batistuta, Ariel Ortega and the rest of the Argentine team to despair with their dogged and persistent play), that same writer dubbed Takeshi Okada "The Little Henjin that Could".
We have come full circle - Takeshi Okada and I. Twelve years later, and once again the Little Henjin that Could is proving his detractors wrong, with a slow, steady and determined advance towards glory. Once again this writer can only take off his hat and offer full congratulations. Well done, sir. Well done boys. Youve done yourselves, and the entire nation proud. The question now is - can you take it even further? Can you truly deliver on your goal of a semifinal berth, or . . . . dare I even ask it? . . . . a trip to the Big Show on July 11?
I think I can. I think I can
I think I can. I think I can
I think I can . . . . . .
