Japan nick it late against the Dutch

Japan have shown that persistence matters more than reputation in these games, and the Netherlands probably got a bit too comfortable after taking the lead. The late equaliser feels fair on balance because Japan kept asking the same questions and eventually got rewarded for it imo
 
Honestly the funniest thing about this is how quickly the whole conversation flips in a World Cup match because one minute everyone is talking about Dutch control and the next minute people are pretending they always knew Japan would score from a header after a corner and it all becomes chaos and memes and tactical experts appearing out of nowhere and saying the keeper should save it and the manager should be sacked and the subs were dreadful and the Dutch are negative and Japan are magical and then five minutes later everyone has moved on to the next incident and nobody remembers how tense it felt in the moment
 
I think people are being way too harsh on the Dutch here because Japan were always going to have spells and they are a proper organised side who keep the ball moving and keep the pressure on, it is not like the Netherlands were getting battered for ninety minutes or anything, they just got a bit passive after the goal and paid for it, but that happens to loads of teams and it does not suddenly mean the whole performance was a disaster or that every sub was a crime against football
 
I was in the pub when it went in and the whole place just erupted because half the lads had been taking the mick out of the crosses all evening and then Japan go and score from one anyway, proper drinking den moment, people shouting about height and corners and the keeper and one fella near the bar just kept saying I told you so even though he definitely had not told anyone anything before that, absolute chaos
 
Japan looked more direct as the game went on and that mattered. The Dutch were happy to protect space rather than press high, which gave Japan too many comfortable deliveries into the box. Once you invite repeated pressure like that, a set piece goal is always possible.
 
nah i dont think it was all on koeman or the subs really because the dutch just stopped playing with any urgency and let japan settle into the game which is on the whole team not just one bloke
 
People are going to blame the keeper because that is the easy thing to do but the whole situation was a mess and Verbruggen was left with too much to think about after the Dutch let Japan keep hanging around in the game, and every time the ball came back in it felt like they were asking for trouble, the communication looked off, the marking looked loose, the confidence looked shot, and once that happens at this level you are basically begging for the equaliser to arrive and then everyone piles on the last man instead of looking at the bigger picture
 
The bigger picture is that Japan have become a nightmare to play against because they just keep coming and they do not care what the scoreline or the reputation says. The Netherlands probably thought they had done enough after going ahead, but the energy dropped and the momentum changed and from there it was only a matter of time before Japan made something happen, and now all anyone will talk about is the keeper and the subs and the manager and whether the Dutch are actually any good and honestly it is exhausting because one goal changes everything and suddenly people are acting like the whole tournament has been decided
 
Japan were always getting joy from those wide areas and the Dutch never really adjusted enough to stop the delivery into the box, so once the tempo dropped it felt inevitable that one of those balls would cause trouble. The issue was not just the goal, it was the passive shape after the lead
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top