http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201101300138.html - Mention has been made that he's Zainichi, but he prefers to be known as just a footballer.

But wow, Japan's been killing it with the football lately. Apparently they're the ‘unofficial football world champions’ also.

did you watch the game? Australia missed so many chances you'd think it was on purpose. Japan spent probably 80% of the game in their own half with the occasional counter-attack. They were lucky Harry kewell played horribly, he probably missed 10 shots even just a couple years back at his peak he'd have buried.

Good taken goal tho, they won but it was more Australia that lost than Japan won tbh. Hero keeper, he took a kicking the entire game, got floored like 3-4 times at least.

Gingerninja Wrote:did you watch the game? Australia missed so many chances you'd think it was on purpose. Japan spent probably 80% of the game in their own half with the occasional counter-attack. They were lucky Harry kewell played horribly, he probably missed 10 shots even just a couple years back at his peak he'd have buried.

Good taken goal tho, they won but it was more Australia that lost than Japan won tbh. Hero keeper, he took a kicking the entire game, got floored like 3-4 times at least.

So this proves Australia is/are (never know whether to use plural or singular when describing a team) not the best team in Asia. Japan beat the next best team Korea a few days before.
Therefore, Japan is the best team in Asia

bodhisamaya Wrote:So this proves Australia is/are (never know whether to use plural or singular when describing a team) not the best team in Asia. Japan beat the next best team Korea a few days before.
Therefore, Japan is the best team in Asia

Didn't say they weren't They certainly didn't play like the best team in Asia, as much as that title matters when it comes to world football.

Anyway... Australia aren't even Asian.. they're only in it because the oceanic football teams are even worse, and provide absolutely no challenge at all.

Actually by that logic apparently they're the best in the world. ;p Anyway, I think it's meaningless and sort of rude to say things like "it's not that so-and-so won, it's that their opponent lost" unless the one effectively slipped on a banana peel at a crucial moment. Even then it's not quite cricket unless Japan in turn slipped on a banana peel and accidentally scored a goal. I didn't watch the match, but from what I've read Japan felt they had a lot of missed chances and negative factors too. Regardless, both teams were playing, and Japan scored the winning point, and a very nice one at that.

That said, it's not that the other teams won the World Cup, it's that Japan lost. ;p

A team wins on its own volition, and that's what Japan did. As for Australia being in the Asian Cup, I have to say I don't agree with it because Australia is not part of Asia. I understand that the OFC provides no challenge whatsoever, but I still cannot agree with a system in which countries just "swap" continents when it's convenient.

Gingerninja Wrote:did you watch the game? Australia missed so many chances you'd think it was on purpose. Japan spent probably 80% of the game in their own half with the occasional counter-attack. They were lucky Harry kewell played horribly, he probably missed 10 shots even just a couple years back at his peak he'd have buried.

I don't think this is true at all. I think the momentum shifted throughout the game, with Japan dominant at times and Australia dominant at others. I don't remember Australia having a disproportionate number of chances, either - although I do remember them committing a disproportionate number of fouls. One of the Australian strikers tried to take out the Japanese keeper twice - once with an elbow to the throat, and once with what looked like a rugby tackle. There was a goal-line clearance at one point that looked like a certain Japanese handball until the replay showed that the Japanese guy hadn't handled it, but Cahill had definitely tried to bat the ball into the goal with his hand. And there was one occasion where an Australian just ran up and kicked the Japanese right back (I think!) in the back of the legs and I was amazed he wasn't carded for it. As for Kewell, he's been rubbish for years now.

Anyway, I thought Japan deserved it.