By Michael Cox
If you’ve ever spent any time on social media, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the famous clip from several years ago of three Japan internationals — Hotaru Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Kiyotake, and Yosuke Ideguchi — taking on 100 schoolchildren on a full-sized football pitch.
The premise is farcical, but the footage is curiously mesmeric, and it’s actually fascinating to see how the three internationals actually manage to pass the ball to one another in space, overcoming the sheer probability that one of their opponents will get in their way, even if accidentally.
The key to their passing is, essentially, that the school kids always get dragged towards the ball over on one side, and the internationals can constantly switch the play to the opposite flank, where one of the trio is unmarked.
The youngsters are positionally naive, it must be said. That’s probably enough tactical analysis for now.
But sometimes, when watching the current Japan side compete against a mere 10 (albeit fully-grown) outfielders, you can’t help but detect the same approach play.
This is what Japan are all about. Their 3-4-3 system forms a front five in possession, and eternally causes opponents problems by finding a spare player — the bonus back, if you like — running into the box unmarked, on the blind side of the opposition defence, and available for a switch of play.
And if it can beat 100 opponents, maybe this is only 10 per cent of the challenge…
The interesting thing about Japan’s wing-backs is that they aren’t pure “arriving” wing-backs — they’re not Daniel Munoz or Denzel Dumfries, solely late runners who pop up at the far post.
They can do that. But right-sided Ritsu Doan is left-footed, and left-sided Keito Nakamura is right-footed.
They can cut inside to shoot, as Nakamura did to score against the Netherlands, and they can also check inside to switch the play with angled passes.
One passage of play, early in the second half of their 1-1 draw with Sweden, shows what Japan are all about. First, central midfielder Daichi Kamada moves to the left flank, cuts back onto his right foot and crosses deep for wing-back Yukinari Sugawara — platying instead of the rested Doan — to attack, but the ball drops before he can meet it on the volley.
Sweden half-clear the ball, but only as far as Ao Tanaka, who immediately switches the play again over to the left, where Kamada is there to meet it on the volley — but hits it straight at the goalkeeper.
This is what Japan are all about. They always have a spare player at the far post, and they will find him with late switches of play.
The most promising thing about Japan’s approach, ahead of their meeting with Brazil, is that the Selecao’s clear position of weakness is at full-back. Right-back Danilo will be 35 by the end of the tournament and is hardly the type of speedy, mobile full-back we’re accustomed to seeing for Brazil.
Left-back Douglas Santos has never been a top-class performer. In the centre of defence, they’re solid. You don’t want to be testing the aerial ability of Marquinhos and Gabriel.
Taking them out of the equation and switching the play past them is the right approach.
Further, it’s difficult to see how Brazil will cope with those runners on the far side in a tactical sense.
Other opponents generally feel compelled to drop an extra player into the back line, forming a back five against Japan’s front five — as the Netherlands did, with Frenkie de Jong dropping in from midfield. That freed up the full-backs to stay wide and cope with Japan’s switches.
Which Brazil player will do this? Will Casemiro do what De Jong did? Will the inexperienced Rayan continue on the right and be tasked with dropping in? Does Carlo Ancelotti even consider this a problem he needs to find a solution for?
This feels like an enormous match, not merely in the context of this tournament but in the context of the World Cup overall. While football likes to think of itself as a global game, it remains dominated by sides from Western Europe and South America.
Japan have always felt like the coming force from elsewhere: they have the infrastructure, the tactical and technical qualities and other coaches marvel at their cohesion. But they’ve never won a knockout game at the World Cup.
If they eliminate Brazil — the dominant side in World Cup history — it would be enormous. Tactically, Japan’s approach might be perfect for the task.
The New York Times
