06-20-2014, 09:08 AM
Surprised no one's commented on the matches in this group yesterday. Columbia - Ivory Coast was a particularly entertaining match, where the first half was ok, while not great, but the second half came to life as both teams really went all out for the result. Looks like these two teams will go through (Columbia are already through) and deservedly so.
On the other hand, Greece - Japan was a massive disappointment. With all due respect to any Greek posters, I simply can't stand watching this Greece side. I respected them in 2004, but since then they try to recreate that tournament everytime, only they forget they still have to win, which that side did by taking advantage of opposing teams weaknesses. They are dire, honestly a terrible side that are far too focused on stopping their opponents and not winning themselves.
That said, I expected so much more from Japan in this tournament. This match against Greece showed that they are a really good, technically gifted side, yet did very little to almost nothing to really hurt Greece. Constantly pumping crosses into the box when you're physically not competing against the opponents is a waste of time. They also played too slow and I must say, Honda was disappointing in his constant dropping deep and not being anywhere to hurt the opponents. They have quick players and getting more incisive runs into the box would have been the way to go.
On the other hand, Greece - Japan was a massive disappointment. With all due respect to any Greek posters, I simply can't stand watching this Greece side. I respected them in 2004, but since then they try to recreate that tournament everytime, only they forget they still have to win, which that side did by taking advantage of opposing teams weaknesses. They are dire, honestly a terrible side that are far too focused on stopping their opponents and not winning themselves.
That said, I expected so much more from Japan in this tournament. This match against Greece showed that they are a really good, technically gifted side, yet did very little to almost nothing to really hurt Greece. Constantly pumping crosses into the box when you're physically not competing against the opponents is a waste of time. They also played too slow and I must say, Honda was disappointing in his constant dropping deep and not being anywhere to hurt the opponents. They have quick players and getting more incisive runs into the box would have been the way to go.