Japan cruised to a 3-1 win over Syria on thursday, but the win should have been much,much bigger. The japanese forwards, Okazaki,Tamada,Okubo and Sato all squandered 100% opportunities, and once again Japan showed their weakness up front. With that said, the likes of Okubo and Tamada are of great value to the team, as their constant running causes alot of trouble for their opponents. On the wingbacks Japan seems to have found two very good players now, with Uchida racing down the right flank, always performing. On the left, it haven’t that good, but this match Nagasato of TC Tokyo played a terrific match, and will start again in the match tomorrow. Certainly an important weapon offensively, but his main strenght is his defensive qualities. However, Gamba’s Michihiro Yasuda is another in-form player, and it’s fierce competition for the left wing-back position now.
In midfield Japan looked strong as always, despite fielding a team with only 3-4 first-team regulars. Yasuhito Endo and Daisuke Matsui will both start the match tomorrow, probably alongside Kengo Nakamura and Shinji Kagawa. Shunsuke Nakamura is doubtful, but if he’s fit he will start instead of Kengo.
Up front there’s a little more unclear, as nobody really stands out. Okubo and Tamada are the most likely starters though. In defence, Nakazawa is out, which means probably Terada of Frontale will step in. As he was injured for a while, Terada isn’t in his best form, but showed great skills against Syria. In fact, Syria’s first attempt on goal came after almost 80 minutes, and their goal was a penalty-kick. First-choice in goal, Narazaki is also missing, but Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi isn’t a bad replacement, so they should be well covered defensively.
Japan have never bean Qatar before, and all previous meetings gives us 0-3-2. Qatar aren’t in a particular good form though, and have had a rough start to their qualification campaign. They got 4 points though, but lost their last match 4-0 to Australia. On friday they played a training match against South-Korea at home, which ended 1-1. Not a bad result, but their new coach Bruno Metsu are yet to clock a win for Qatar. Qatar doesn’t have any injuries as far as I can see, and are desperate for a result in this match. Japan can afford a loss, but they are aiming for 1st place, and then only a win will be good enough.
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