Well, preparing a back-line for the tournament and then losing Kitagawa and Shimizu one after the other can indeed get on your nerves...
And what was waiting to happen, finally happened: I knew we couldn't keep up for much longer, while being pushed back this way.
Who the hell was supposed to take Mariona on? Where is the communication? That whole goal was just so moronic to even concede if you supposedly know your roles.
I wonder what Ikeda is going to do if Shimizu is indeed out for good. The most likely solution would be moving Miyabi Moriya in the roster, but I am not sure how much she's used to play on that side. An alternative could be inserting Rion Ishikawa as a CB and moving Moeka Minami in a FB position, since she's occasionally played in that position on both sides for Roma.
We're too much tired by now: even when we manage to intercept some Spain's stray-pass, we can't follow up with anything significant...
Ok, I had forgotten Moriya is indeed already in the roster, because of Kitagawa's injury. She's replacing Koga right now to play the additional time.
F.T.....Spain 2-1 Japan Shame we had to listen to two patronising racists for 96 mins (but at least I had a few minutes watching Remina)
Spain 2-1 Japan FT. Well, no miracle against the World Champions: we had no hope of surprising them like at the WWC, but we could have tried better to salvage at least a draw... The final additional minutes were quite hectic, but it the end we could do nothing: as someone correctly said (@frideswide? @Ponde_Ringu?), we were not going to score from open play in this game. Let's put our hope in the next games.
managed to see last 15mins, I see Shimizu was injuried and error prone Takahashi has to come in I didn't know Kitagawa's also injuried. Two first choice fullbacks injuried... that doesn't bode well for Japan chances to leave this group... let alone winning the medal
We played against excellent team, but also conceded fairly easy goals and our pressing game is far from perfect. When one player makes an effort to press, IMMEDIATELY and EVERY surrounding player has to do the same with all the tenacity and aggression they have. Meanwhile, usually only one, max two players did - it couldn't work against the team like Spain. Overall, it was decent effort to be competitive vs any other team in the world, but not enough vs World Champions.
I think Ikeda gave up the win as soon as Shimizu was injured. Hence sending Takahashi in to close up shop. He tends to do this (probably because of his experience as a defender) and it often goes wrong. We were never winning this game tbf. A 1-2 defeat against the best team in the world is not horrible. And most teams tend to look as bad as we did when they play Spain. The injuries are what truly worries me. If Shimizu is completely out I probably won’t/can’t watch the rest of the tournament.
2-1 is a kind score line for Japan. The Spanish were on the second gear and we couldn’t get near them. Especially in the second half, it was almost humiliating although that’s what Spain do to most nations. I don’t think this Nadeshiko team can create many chances against any teams in this tournament. There are no patterns or anything but just up to the individuals to come out goods. The only way to creat chances are short counter attack when pressing works in the high position. Hopefully that would be the case against Nigeria.