Playing in Europe Might Put Japan’s Stars on the Map
Japan, which finished a more-than-respectable second behind European and world champion France in the recent FIFA Confederations Cup, is intent on making an equally strong showing when it co-hosts next summer’s World Cup with South Korea.
To achieve that goal, Coach Philippe Troussier believes more national team players should move to European clubs to gain experience at the highest level of the game.
“Technically and tactically, the Japanese can’t get much better, but they won’t get experience playing in the J-League,” Troussier said.
At the moment, the only Japanese national team player in Europe is Hidetoshi Nakata, who helped AS Roma win the Italian league title this season.
Nakata might soon be joined in Europe by two teammates, however.
Midfielder Shinji Ono, who was only 18 when he played for Japan in the France ’98 World Cup, has been offered a four-year contract by Dutch powerhouse Feyenoord of Rotterdam, pending a medical exam this week.
Feyenoord is expected to pay the Urawa Reds close to $4 million for the 21-year-old.
Another midfielder, Junichi Inamoto of Gamba Osaka, is close to moving to Atletico Madrid of the Spanish second division, where he would come up against U.S. forward Ante Razov, who plays for Racing de Ferrol.
Troussier believes the experience of playing in Europe will give Japanese players not only more experience against top-flight opponents but also a more realistic appreciation of their ability.
“Here [in the J-League], a player scores a goal and suddenly he’s a hero,” Troussier told Reuters. “He reads the headlines the next day and he begins to believe all the hype.”
The European lesson already has been learned by U.S. Coach Bruce Arena. In Wednesday’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Trinidad and Tobago, Arena’s starting lineup included eight players from European clubs and only three from Major League Soccer.
Copa America, Sort of
The stubborn refusal of the South American soccer confederation (CONMEBOL) to listen to reason and stage the Copa America every four years instead of every two, means that this year’s edition once again will be a watered-down event.
Argentina, the likely champion, and Colombia, the host nation, have named their squads for the July 11-29 tournament and both countries have left out their top players.
Argentina Coach Marcelo Bielsa purposely did not select forwards Hernan Crespo and Gabriel Batistuta, midfielders Juan Sebastian Veron, Diego Simeone and Kily Gonzalez, and defenders Walter Samuel and Roberto Ayala.
Colombia Coach Francisco Maturana followed suit by omitting strikers Juan Pablo Angel and Faustino Asprilla, midfielders Freddy Rincon, Mauricio Serna and Frankie Oviedo and defenders Jorge Bermudez, Arley Dinas and Gonzalo Martinez from his roster.
Both coaches want to rest their best players for World Cup qualifying and also want to use the once-prestigious tournament to assess younger players.
In addition to Argentina and Colombia, the event features Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
FIFA Nonsense
Exemplifying the farcical nature of FIFA’s world rankings, Trinidad and Tobago leaped from 35th place in May to 25th in June despite posting no victories in its five World Cup qualifying games.
The “Soca Warriors” did win the Caribbean Cup, but that is a tournament of monumental obscurity and hardly reason to see T&T; jump ahead of far more powerful soccer nations.
Mexico, which Friday named popular former national team player Javier Aguirre as its new coach, has lost six in a row but still ranks 15th in the world.
The United States dropped from 15th to 17th in the latest rankings despite a run of good results.
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FIFA WORLD RANKINGS
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Rk Prv Country Pts 1 1 France 818 2 2 Brazil 796 3 3 Argentina 771 4 4 Italy 747 5 5 Portugal 734 6 6 Spain 733 7 7 Czech Republic 726 8 9 Germany 720 9 8 Netherlands 718 10 10 Paraguay 714 11 11 Yugoslavia 702 12 12 Romania 696 13 14 England 693 14 19 Croatia 672 15 13 Mexico 670 16 20 Denmark 665 17 15 United States 665 18 16 Colombia 660 19 17 Norway 660 20 18 Russia 659 21 21 Sweden 657 22 27 Ireland 641 23 23 Poland 638 24 22 South Africa 632 25 35 Trinidad & Tobago 628 26 30 Belgium 626 27 28 Saudi Arabia 621 28 26 Morocco 620 29 31 Tunisia 617 30 25 Slovakia 616
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Rankings as of June 20
