Trouble in the Japan camp ahead of tonight's World Cup Qualifier against Iran. Zico has decided to revert to 4-4-2 and is playing Nakata as Captain, despite Nakata having been out with injury for a year. The players don't like it, thinking they should stick with their familiar 3-5-2 system.
For me, tactically-inept, Kashima-Antlers-favoring, JFA "yes man" Zico is delaying the development of Japanese football and the sooner he's out, the faster Japan can build on the great work of former manager Philippe Troussier. In that sense, this rare open criticism by Japan's players is a positive thing.
On the other hand, teams that are infighting in the media on the eve of big games almost never win them. The great but bickering Dutch teams of recent decades proved that so many times.
I hope I'm wrong, but it's not looking good for Japan in the cauldron of Tehran tonight.
Posted by Setsunai at March 25, 2005 5:43 PM | TrackBack