http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...-korea?cc=4716
Samurai Blue cut through Korea
August 11, 2011
"Japan confirm their status as Asia's best" would make a decent headline 4 tis article. Aft all, it was good enough 4 newspapers in both Seoul & Tokyo on Thursday morning as media fr both nations reacted 2 Japan's 3-0 win over their rivals in Sapporo.
The friendly started with a minute's silence 4 recently deceased Japanese football star Naoki Matsuda & ended with thunderous applause as a confident Samurai Blue put South Korea to the sword in 1 of the most comprehensive wins seen 4 some time in tis fixture betw Asia's biggest rivals.
Shinji Kagawa scored the 1st b4 the break & added a 2nd 7 mins aft though by tat time Keisuke Honda had already added a 2nd. Japan could hv scored more but will be just happy with a 1st win @ home over Korea in 13 years.
In Asia, no team goes 2 Japan expecting 2 win but South Korea is perhaps the only 1 2 be a little disappointed when it doesn't do so. Just last year, fine victories came in Tokyo in February & Saitama in May, just hours b4 the 2 teams left 4 the WC. Aft the latter, Park Ji-Sung-inspired triumph (more results like tis & calls 4 his return fr retirement will not be far behind) , Japanese journalists openly scoffed @ then-coach Takeshi Okada & his target of a semi-final place in South Africa. Korean scribes r nowhere near tat stage but woke up on Thursday morning feeling a little depressed.
B4 the game, Korean coach Cho Kwang-Rae said tat the hosts, who had lifted the Asian Cup 6 months previously, were approaching 'international standard'. Fr an eastern point of view, tat means an ability 2 match it with the best of the Europeans & South Americans. If there was only a little doubt b4 the game tat Japan has wat it takes 2 take on teams the old continents hv 2 offer, there was none aft. The encouraging thing is tat under Okada's successor Alberto Zaccheroni, Japan r improving. The Italian has settled the boys in blue in2 tis 4-2-3-1 formation. Tis is a well-organised team, fairly solid @ the back, increasingly fluid going 4ward & full of confidence.
There r also some very good players 4 'Zac' 2 choose fr. Playing behind the main striker alongside Honda & Shinji Okazaki, Kagawa was the star of the show. His brace was made all the sweeter by the fact he missed the 2nd half of last season thru an injury sustained in the Asian Cup semi-final against Korea @ the start of the year. By the looks of things, the 22-year-old has returned not only 2 fitness but 2 the form tat saw him become a star of the Bundesliga in the 1st half of last season with champions Borussia Dortmund. His 2nd could be a belter.
Captain Makoto Hasebe was the epitome of coolness & authority in midfield & didn't put a foot, or a pass, wrong while Honda revelled in the space he was allowed. Japan's ability 2 keep the ball while moving it around @ speed had the opposition on the back foot fr the 1st minute when Okazaki, who scored a spectacular goal 4 Stuttgart in the opening weekend of the Bundesliga last weekend, tried something similar but curled a shot just over fr long range. The former Shimizu S-Pulse man was just 1 of a growing number of European-based players on display. With Japan missing Inter left-back Yuto Nagatomo, perhaps the team's best player @ the Asian Cup.
Korea could point 2 absences of their own. The team has long been strong down the sides but aft the recent retirements of Lee Young-Pyo & Park Ji-Sung, the left especially has become an issue. Full-back Kim Yong-Chol was withdrawn early in the 1st half & a creaky defence became downright leaky when replacement Park Won-Jae didn't even make half-time. The right usually belongs 2 Lee Chung-Yong but like Bolton Wanderers, the Taeguk Warriors will be without the wily wideman for 9 months thanks 2 a broken leg collected in a pre-season friendly. Coach Cho opted not 2 call young stars Ji Dong-Won & Son Heung-Min 2 allow them a jetlag-free start 2 their respective Premier League & Bundesliga seasons & may hv regretted tat decision as he stood on the sidelines of a bouncing Sapporo Dome.
With a defence cut open time & time again, a midfield outpassed & outclassed & an attack unable 2 take advantage of wat chances were created, there were hardly any positives 4 Korea 2 take fr tis loss with the only caveat tat recent results & performances hv been good enough not 2 get carried away over 1 result - however poor. Korea had been looking good in recent months, & playing some decent stuff, with successive wins over Honduras, Serbia & Ghana on the back of the Asian Cup in which a very young team impressed b4 coming within a penalty shootout of the final. The same young players need 2 bounce back 4 the start of Korea's qualification campaign for 2014 tat starts in 3 weeks with a home match against Lebanon.
If there r now a few clouds of doubt hanging over the southern half of the Korean peninsula there r only clear skies abv the Land of the Rising Sun with Brazil clearly visible on the horizon.
Australia Win again in Europe
Aft friendly victories in the Netherlands & Germany in the recent past, Australia fans r not going 2 get 2 excited abt a 2-1 win in Wales but it was a good result. Wales were motivated & had summoned a strong squad.
Tim Cahill grabbed the opener & just in case there were going 2 be any concerns expressed tat the Socceroos were still over-reliant on the old guard, 22-year-old Robbie Kruse got the 2nd. The result was not a surprise which, fr an Aussie point of view, is perhaps the best part abt it.
China down Reggae Boyz
The Chinese media was none 2 impressed with the choice of opponent 4 tis last warm-up 4 the 1st group stage of qualification 4 the 2014 WC. Tis, remember, is where China has slipped up on the past 2 occasions. Being put in a relatively easy group has not really calmed any nerves so playing Jamaica ahead of games against Singapore, Jordan & Iraq had the team on a hiding 2 nothing.
@ least the hosts won 1-0 thanks 2 Zhao Peng though tat was little consolation 2 Coach Gao Hongbo who has now been replaced by former Spain boss Jose Antonio Camacho. The move came as no surprise as it has been a badly-kept secret 4 weeks.
And...
Kuwait did the old 'warm-up 4 a game against 1 of the Koreas by arranging a friendly against the other 1' routine' & drew 0-0 with the North in a result tat surprised nobody. Syria drew 1-1 in Kazakhstan thanks 2 a goal fr Nadim Sabagh, a decent result & a decent warm-up 4 a tough WC group tat includes Japan, Uzbekistan & North Korea while Oman & Bahrain drew 1-1.