[R] The US vs. Japan (a serious friendly)

"Is this some kind of fucking punishment?" is what a friend of mine said before the match. Soccer pitch in a baseball stadium. The grass was green, but the ground was rubbish. The pitch looked unusually small, but that's probably an optical illusion. Anyway, there was something wrong with the whole picture, and sure enough, the match became something fairly close to a hockey game, with the players slipping, flopping, whoops-ing, falling down all over the place. I prayed, please nobody get hurt, on either side. Especially our frail boys, who obviously weren't ready for a serious match yet. Some half-assed passing game to kill time and avoid physical contact wouldn't work against those tough Americans, I thought. And of course, they tried to do just that.

The first half was the US walking all over Japan, especially after the 10th minute. Japan's ridiculous first-ever experiment with a 3-6-1 formation turned out to be utter crap, as was expected by many. One wonders how Zico always comes up with those ridiculous ideas in the absence of some key players. Always. Can't we just do it, um, normal? After the 10th minute, the ball never ever reached their lone forward. Neva. The Americans had almost as hard a time as the Japanese in dealing with the pitch, but their crazy pressing in the midfield, which I'm sure reminded Japanese fans of South Korea (on acid) in their shatter-the-Japs mode, utterly demoralized Japan. Ding, dong. 2-0 for the US. O-kaaayy. I have a confession to make. I didn't see either goal. I fell asleep after the 20th minute (I didn't sleep last night). My friend tells me it's so wise of me to have decided to do so.

The second half. I wake up, and Zico wakes up. He ditches the 3-6-1 (what a short life that poor sod had... it'll never be tried again). And now, it's a 3-5-2. Back to normal, although I would've prefered a classical 4-4-2 considering what we had at our disposal. And then, a Japanese defender screws up his marking at a perfect timing, and whack! 3-0 for the US. This is getting interesting, I thought. But then... well, I don't know. The US got kind of tired, I guess. They were evidently firing on all cylinders from minute 1, so it was only natural perhaps. Yes, they ran out of it, which made Japan look a little good. Just a tiny bit, though. A couple of consolation goals for Japan, and the game ended. 3-2 for the US of A.

The US were amazing. At least 80% of the players gave their full hearts and souls to the game. I want every friendly to be one against the US. That "Oh my God..." on the Japanese players' faces after the match was just priceless. It seemed like they saw a demon or something.

As for the US, well, of course there were some holes here and there, but it was a coherent "team." I don't know how long they have played together for, but it was something to admire, something that we don't have even in the full-strength team. Hope they have it in THEIR full-strength team, too. Twellman was sublime. An American friend of mine had been raving about him, and yeah, you're right, Mike. Do they really need McBride, I wondered. Oh, and I love Pope.

A nice wake-up call for Japan. Nothing serious. Things don't work sometimes. The first match of a season has always been crap for us, remember? Same *** with this World Cup year. But my friend keeps shouting in my ear: "That fucking first half was the worst fucking performance I've ever seen from a team called the Japanese national team!" It's just a national team, and it's just a friendly, for crying out loud. Calm down, idiot. I'll tell him so, after he calms down of course.


S.I.


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