Japan 3-1 Iceland

A good win to start off the 2012 international calendar. Japan dominated throughout and went up 3-0 before Iceland pulled one back at the death with a penalty. The scorers were Ryoichi Maeda, Jungo Fujimoto, and Tomoaki Makino.

Makino set up the first goal in the 2nd minute with a perfect cross onto the head of Maeda, after a good run down the right and embarrassing the Icelandic rightback with a cutback.

Japan created a number of other chances in the first half, led forward menacingly by the excellent Fujimoto. However, they were unable to capitalize on any of these and entered the break up 1-0.

In the second half, Japan picked up right where they left off. Debutant Junya Tanaka came on at the start of the half for Yasuhito Endo.

Fujimoto scored a deserved goal in the 53rd, latching onto a wonderful ball from Kengo Nakamura and chipping cooly over the Icelandic keeper.

A minute later, Fujimoto was at again. This time provider, the Nagoya Grampus playmaker played a great ball to Tanaka who shot inches wide from his first senior goal.

It became 3-0 in the 79th when Makino scored from a sitting position in the middle of a scramble in the Icelandic box after a freekick by Nakamura. It was his first goal f0r the national team.

Makino’s only mistake was conceding a penalty in added time, which Arnor Smarason cooly placed by the otherwise untroubled Shusaku Nishikawa. Final score 3-1.

It was another great time performance from Japan, who dominated possession, and carved open the Icelandic defense at will with quick passing. Makino was excellent coming out of defense, and Fujimoto showed that he can play the number ten role well filling in for Honda and Kagawa. Tanaka also played well in his first appearance. It was a good first match of the year.

Some points: The Icelandic number 7 Steinthor Thorsteinsson wowed the Osaka crowd with a number of ‘front flip’ throws. Technically, they are illegal, but the crowd loved them and it was a friendly.

Japan continues to show that its best form of defense is never letting the other team have the ball. They continued to dominate possession and never game Iceland a moment on the ball. Nishikawa was hardly troubled.

Next: The final World Cup qualifier of the third round, at home against Uzbekistan on Wednesday.

Here are the highlights.

Japan Plays Iceland

Apparently Japan has a friendly with Iceland this Friday. Since it’s not a FIFA international day, the team will be comprised entirely of domestic players who won’t miss any club matches or have to travel halfway across the world both ways. The Iceland team will also be made up of players from their domestic league (except for a couple in Norway and one in Greece). Unsurprisingly, the Icelandic league plays during the summer because of frigid arctic winters.

The Japan team…

Goalkeepers (rookies in bold): Takuto Hayashi, Kaito Yamamato, and Shusaku Nishikawa.

Defenders: Yuichi Komano, Daiki Iwamasa, Yasuyuki Konno, Yuzo Kurihara, Naoya Kondo, Masahiko Inoha, Ryota Moriwaki, and Tomoaki Makino.

Midfielders: Yasuhito Endo, Kengo Nakamura, Yuki Abe, Chikashi Masuda, Yosuke Kashiwagi, Ryota Isomura, and Gaku Shibasaki.

Forwards: Naohiro Ishikawa, Ryoichi Maeda, Yoshito Okubo, Jungo Fujimoto, Junya Tanaka, Hidetaka Kanazono(injured), and Yuya Kubo.

In all, nine debutants, including three who are 20 or younger. In particular, I’m looking forward to seeing Junya Tanaka (the Japan Footblog J. League Player of the Year!). He had a great Club World Cup, and hopefully he can play well and solidify his place in the national team. After leading Kashiwa to promotion and then the championship, Tanaka finally gets his chance with the national team. There is no place for Marcus Tulio Tanaka, who can’t seem to get a game under Zaccheroni.

Zaccheroni will probably be experimental in this game, so it’s difficult to predict who will be in the starting xi. I would say Tanaka, Fujimoto, Maeda, Nakamura, and Endo are all pretty certain starters among the front six. In back, Komano and Konno are locks. I don’t have a clue who will start in goal.

The experts (message boards) seem to think that youngsters like Shibasaki and Kubo are being brought along just to experience the senior team and are unlikely to play. That’s kind of disappointing, but I’m sure they’ll get their chance in the future.

Overall, experimental or not, I don’t think Japan will have too much trouble in this friendly. After this, World Cup qualifiers start up again.

Other news: Keisuke Honda played for CSKA in the Champions League against Real Madrid. Honda came on as a sub in the 68th minute and played well. The match ended 1-1, a good result for a team in the middle of its winter break, against an opponent that has been redefining ‘steamrolling’ in its domestic league.

Nominees for Player of the Year Awards

Here are the nominees for the inaugural end-of-year Japan Footblog Player of the Year Awards. Please let me know if there are any glaring misses or players that are more deserving.

Japanese Player in Europe: This award is for the player who was the most important for his club team. Bonus points if they were really good for the national team.

• Shinji Kagawa: After a first half of the 2010-11 season in which he took the Bundesliga by storm, Kagawa broke his foot in the Asian Cup and didn’t play for Dortmund again until this fall. His second season hasn’t been as magical, marked by some poor performances early in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League. However he was picked it up and has displayed the skill that made him the subject of many transfer rumors over the summer. He has six goals overall this season. Also, he was incredible for the national team–the single-handed rescue against Qatar in the Asian Cup and the dismantling of South Korea in the 3-0 victory over the summer are two performances that quickly come to mind.
• Keisuke Honda: Like Kagawa, Honda has struggled with injuries this year. Nonetheless he still managed to score nine goals, leading CSKA Moscow to second place and a place in the RPL’s ridiculous ‘Championship Group’. He was also pretty good for the national team, winning (probably undeservedly) the MVP award for the Asian Cup.
• Yuto Nagatomo: Again, injured for a bit, but when he played he was excellent. Now one of the first names on the team sheet for Inter, Nagatomo has become one of the most exciting players in Serie A. He has scored three league goals and has shredded countless defenses. Recently, he has been vital to Inter’s resurgence as they have managed to overcome a terrible start. Finally, he was at the center of two of the iconic moments in Japanese football in 2o11: the cross that set up Tadanari Lee’s Asian Cup winning goal, and waving a Japanese flag after Inter beat Bayern in the Champions League in support of the earthquake and tsunami victims in March.
• Shinji Okazaki: He had a good season for Stuttgart last season, and has been decent this season so far as has his team. Didn’t stand out on the club level like the other three, but he was incredible for the national team. He scored three times in the Asian Cup and has scored five goals in World Cup qualifying so far.

Japanese Player in J. League: This blog has focused on players in Europe but I promise that next season the J. League will be covered. The primary purpose of this award is to identify some of the players that could potentially make the jump to Europe, and to show some love to the J. League greats.

• Mike Havenaar: In his first season with Kofu, Havenaar led the club to promotion with 2o goals. In his second season, Havenaar took no time to acclimatize to J. League 1, scoring 17 goals (40 percent of Kofu’s total). He was unable to prevent Kofu from being relegated but his performances were so outstanding that he was called up by Zaccheroni to the national team. Naturally, he scored twice in three matches. Starting in the new year, Havenaar will be playing along Michihiro Yasuda at Vitesse.
• Junya Tanaka: Kashiwa Reysol had an incredible season. After winning promotion, they wasted no time and promptly won the J. League title in their first attempt. A lot of the plaudits were deservedly given to J. League player of the year Leandro, but equally as important to the team’s amazing success was Tanaka, who scored 13 times for the champions. He was also called up for the national team for the first time.
• Marcus Tulio Tanaka: The best defender in the J. League. He was the anchor for Nagoya as they posted the league’s second-best defensive record. He also chipped in with six goals and wasn’t booked a single time. Yes, not a single yellow card all season. Wow.
• Yasuhito Endo: Maybe the best J. League player of all time, and he was at it again this season. He was the heartbeat of a free-scoring Gamba side that found the net eleven more times than any other team in the league.

Young Player of the Year: We should get used to hearing these names, both on the club and national team level.

• Ryo Miyaichi: He lit up the Eredivisie with Feyenoord in the first half of the year, then shined for Arsenal in Carling Cup and reserve matches. Recently he’s been hurt, but everyone is eager for Ryo to return in 2012.
• Takashi Usami: On loan at Bayern Munich from Gamba, Usami has looked ridiculously out of place with the reserves, and will likely feature more prominently in the first team in 2012. So far, he has scored six times in 14 reserve appearances and has even scored for the senior team in a cup win.
• Hiroshi Ibusuki: Now playing for Sevilla, Ibusuki has scored eleven goals in 18 matches for the reserves and has recently been on the bench for some Liga matches. Don’t be surprised to see him in some cup matches in the new year.
• Hiroshi Kiyotake: Osaka’s ‘second team’ had a disappointing 2011, however Kiyotake continued to impress. He scored seven league goals from the midfield, adding four more in the Champions League. He also made his debut for the national team, playing in three matches.