Below is a diary of all games played by Japan in FIFA World Cup 2006.
Last Updated: June 18, 2006
Date Played: June 12, 2006 (Group Stage)
Opponent: Australia
Scorer/s: S. Nakamura (JPN 26′), T. Cahill (AUS 84′, 89′), J. Aloisi (92+’)
Budweiser Man of the Match: Tim Cahill
A heartbreaker loss for Japan who led most of the way starting from the disputed goal of S. Nakamura on the 26th minute. Their defense held strong all throughout the game with their goalie Kawaguchi playing great football with a series of save including a double block off striker Mark Viduka early in the game.
Nonethless Australia scored three goals in eight minutes to steal three points away from Japan.
The result could not hide the frustation and feelings of Kawaguchi who was quoted saying:
We made silly mistakes at the end, Nobody likes to lose but to lose like that hurts. I don’t know what psychological damage today’s defeat will have on us. We have five days to prepare for Croatia. We must bounce back quickly or we’re out.
Stud of the Game: Kawaguchi was a strong candidate as the Man of the Match with all the saves he made, however, Tim Cahill of Australia deserves this for scoring the first two goals inspiring a third one.
Dud of the Game: I give this to Japan’s coach Zico. Why? Figure it out .
Honorable Mention: Aloisi who scored the third goal of the game despite filling in as a substitute is commendable.
Game Players : Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi; Yuji Nakazawa, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Keisuke Tsuboi (Teruyuki Moniwa, 56th; Masashi Oguro, 90th, injury time); Alex, Shunsuke Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nakata, Yuichi Komano; Atsushi Yanagisawa (Shinji Ono, 79th), Takashi Fukunishi, Naohiro Takahara
Yellow Cards: Miyamoto (31′); Takahara (40′); Moniwa (68′)
Date Played: June 18, 2006 (Group Stage)
Opponent: Croatia
Scorer/s:
Budweiser Man of the Match:
Preview: Gamba Osaka defender Akira Kaji was reported to make to make his debut against Croatia after passing his medical exam. He was injured in a 2-2 draw against a pre-tournament game with Germany.
Zico is said to implement a four man defense which opens the possibility that Kaji will join captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yuji Nakazawa and Alessandro Santos in the back-line and Mitsuo Ogasawara will be placed into midfield to open the Croatian defence.
Recap: To be filled .
Stud of the Game: To be filled .
Dud of the Game: To be filled .
Honorable Mention: To be filled .
Game Players : To be filled .
Game Substitutes : To be filled .
Yellow Cards: To be filled .
Current Squad
Goalie: 1 Seigo Narazaki, 12 Yoichi Doi, 23 Yoshikatsu Kawaquchi
Defense: 2 Teruyuki Moniwa, 3 Yuichi Komano, 5 Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 6 Koji Nakata, 19 Keisuke Tsuboi, 21 Akira Kaji, 22 Yuji Nakazawa
Midfield: 4 Yasuhito Endo, 7 Hidetoshi Nakata, 8 Mitsuo Ogasawara, 10 Shunsuke Nakamura, 14 Alessandro Santos, 15 Takashi Fukunishi, 17 Junichi Inamoto, 18 Shinji Ono
Striker: 9 Naohiro Takahara, 11 Seiichiro Maki, 13 Atsushi Yanagisawa, 16 Masashi Oguro, 20 Keiji Tamada
[tags]FIFA World Cup, World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2006, Germany, Japan, Diary[/tags]
