The World Cup: Japan

ThisDrinkingLife and The World Cup: Japan

Back again for their 5th World Cup on the bounce, Japan disappointed greatly in the last World Cup, when in a relatively doable group with Ivory Coast, Greece and Colombia they came bottom scoring just two goals, one of which was a penalty. And with some pretty dire form in the recent friendlies, and losing to Saudi Arabia and UAE at home in the qualifiers, things dont look so great for this World Cup either.

With the bad form in mind the Japanese FA in their perceived wisdom decided to sack their manager Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, just two months before the games. Akira Nishino is the guy now in charge and I wish him luck but that’s a crazy decision by the Japanese football association.

Keisuke Honda is the main man with the team, a World Class player that gets Japan motoring but I think its time that the other players stepped up a little and gave the 30 year old some help. He can’t do it all on his own.

This is a group that is definitely manageable for Japan. They play Colombia first, knowing if they can get a result in that game they have a fighting chance. Even if they dont, I would still fancy them to give both Poland and Senegal a good game. They wont make it easy for sure, but unfortunately I can only see Colombia and Senegal coming out of this group.