Japan's Takeshi Okada to change his tactics
Okada to change his tactics
Posted: 2010-06-28 08:34
After surprising the skeptics in the opening round of the World Cup, Japan coach Takeshi Okada knows he's got a special challenge coming up.
He may have to change tactics to get the Japanese past a scrappy Paraguay team and into the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.
Japan's three group games were against attack-minded teams, but the match against Paraguay on Tuesday offers a different problem.
"They're a team that knows how to play when it really counts," Okada said. "All South American teams are not necessarily the same, but Paraguay has a very similar game to Chile. They've got a very solid back line; they push forward in numbers and switch quickly from defense to attack."
The Blue Samurai surprised many by beating both Cameroon and Denmark to reach the round of 16, and a narrow 1-0 loss to the Netherlands - which won Group E - also showed how hard the Japanese are to beat.
"Since we've come to South Africa things have changed, it's hard to say if it's one specific thing," Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi said. "Once we got our first win, we started to play better."
Japan made it this far when it co-hosted the tournament in 2002, but reaching the quarterfinals will have even more significance if the Japanese can do it away from home.
Paraguay drew with Italy 1-1 in its opening match, and then beat Slovakia 2-0 and drew 0-0 against New Zealand.
Although Japan has excellent free kick specialists such as Keisuke Honda and Yusuhito Endo, Okada is anticipating another tight match. He will put his players through penalty drills in anticipation of a shootout.
Okada already seems to have briefed his players to keep their composure at all times against Paraguay.
"They will be trying everything to rile us," Japan defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka said. "They are smart. Against New Zealand they were not taking risks and were just waiting to pounce on mistakes."
Tanaka has shrugged off a minor back complaint after getting banged up against Denmark on Thursday and expects to face Paraguay.
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