Japan 3-1 Denmark: two free-kicks settle the game

The starting line-ups
A straight play-off for the knockout rounds, with the draw favouring Japan. They didn’t need that safety net, and won the game convincingly.
Denmark made two changes. The ineffectual Jesper Gronkjaer was replaced with Thomas Kahlenburg, whilst Simon Kjaer’s suspension meant a rare start for Per Kroldrup. Japan were unchanged.
Denmark made a brilliant start to the game, and were dominating both in terms of possession and territory. Their basic formation was the same as against Cameroon, but the precise layout of the team was very different. The wide midfield players, Kahlenburg and Dennis Rommedahl, played much narrower, looking to link up with the central midfielders and retain possession in the centre. This, in turn, allowed the full-backs to maraud forward, with both Simon Poulsen and Lars Jacobsen getting into the final third within the first five minutes.
Therefore, Denmark effectively had a numerical advantage in the centre of midfield when the wide players came inside, and were able to retain possession easily. Their passing was excellent – slick, one-touch, flowing moves that was bypassing Japan’s midfield at will. Unfortunately, they struggled to find an angle for balls into the box, and their dominance was not transformed into genuine goalscoring opportunities.
Japan conservative early on
Japan started the game by sitting deep and soaking up pressure from Denmark. They defended reasonably narrow (partly as a result of the Danes being narrower than usual) and were fairly happy to deal with the hopeful balls Denmark lofted into the box – their two centre-backs had excellent games.
Of course, a draw was fine for Japan, which explains the difference in mentalities. A Japanese player was booked for timewasting after just 11 minutes, and another was booked on 25 minutes for the same reason. Both were slightly harsh, but it tells you a lot about the tempo Japan were looking to play the game at.
The biggest threat from Denmark came from the movement of Jon Dahl Tomasson, playing as a withdrawn striker. He nearly connected with a Poulsen cross in the first ten minutes, and soon after curled a low shot inches wide of the far post, from an inside-left possession after Yuichi Komano had been attracted to Kahlenburg high up the pitch.
The Danes won the Cameroon game because of the threat Rommedahl provided by running at Benoit Assou-Ekotto, but today Yuto Nagatomo did an excellent defensive job on him. He always gave himself a couple of yards’ head start to compensate for Rommedahl’s pace, and the fact Japan’s defence sat very deep meant playing balls into space was difficult anyway.
Japan were good defensively, and wonderfully fluid in the final third. The four most attacking players seemed to rotate at will – each ending up in dangerous positions, before returning to defend the zone nearest to where they ended up, rather than recovering to a specific position. In truth, they rarely threatened until they went ahead from a Keisuke Honda free-kick smashed in from a crazy angle. They doubled their advantage soon after through Yasuhito Endo’s free-kick from a closer position.
Set-pieces vital
Not much about tactics in terms of those two goals – both from free-kicks – but Denmark brought it on themselves. Why? The post-game statistics reveal that Denmark conceded 23 free-kicks in the game, Japan conceded just 10. That’s a quite substantial difference, and highlights the risk with conceding free-kicks in dangerous positions.
In truth, it seemed like game over at 2-0. Denmark needed three and yet rarely looked like getting one. Morten Olsen took immediate action after the second goal, removing Martin Jorgensen (who was overrun in a central midfield role) and putting on Jakob Poulsen. In the second half, he went to three at the back with the addition of another forward, Soren Larsen. His last throw of the dice was Christian Eriksen, who showed good touches and went close to scoring, but Japan were fairly comfortable – even when Tomasson scored the rebound from his own saved penalty.
And Japan also started to get forward more, exploiting the space in Denmark’s defence and playing some tremendous football in the second half – almost as if they suddenly realised the pressure was off, and they could enjoy themselves. The technical quality of the forward players is very impressive, as is the ball retention in the centre of the pitch. The extremely deep role played by Yuki Abe gives the rest of the side freedom to get forward, and the likes of Endo and Honda were superb. When Japan scored their second, 2-0 was harsh on Denmark – but by the end, 3-1 was a fair reflection of the balance of play.
Conclusion
An enjoyable, open game played by two good technical sides. Japan deservedly win the game, and progress to an interesting-looking second round tie against Paraguay.
Olsen’s tactics throughout the tournament were largely very good. They contained Holland until a crazy mistake from Simon Poulsen, they defeated Cameroon by exploiting their opponents’ lopsided shape, and they had the better of the game here until the free-kicks went in. It is the last we’ll see on the world stage of the likes of Jorgensen, Rommedahl, Gronkjaer and Tomasson, who sum up Danish football well – technically-sound and tactically-intelligent players.
Japan, meanwhile, have really arrived. It’s the first time they’ve qualified from the group stage of the World Cup on foreign soil in their history, and they will be confident going into their game with Paraguay. They have the ability to dominate possession when they get the ball and defend resiliently when they don’t. They’ll be tricky to beat, and Takeshi Okada must be given a lot of credit for instilling discipline and belief into his players. He wasn’t particularly popular in Japan before this tournament, but he surely will be now.
I was in a 6 hour train trip today and was unable to see any game, but man those goals were like masterpieces
At last we have some nice free kicks to watch. These were the first two direct FK goals in the tournament as far as I know.
Sorensen needs to take most of the blame for the first goal. His positioning was poor and he misjudged the path before diving to his right. Perhaps he got Jubilanied? The finishing deserted Denmark as well. Tomasson tried hard to get involved but his reflex looked slow. Bendtner hardly ever threatened the goal at all.
On the first goal you can see the ball looking like it’s going to curve and Sorensen getting in the right position to deal with it. But right as it gets past the wall it straightens out and Sorensen can’t adjust himself. I’m not sure it’s the Jabulani specifically (When you hit the ball in the middle in the Ronaldo style it’s going to do that), but I can’t say you can blame the goalkeeper for his footwork on that one either. A better goalkeeper probably could have dealt with it, but on the whole it’s a great strike.
And if I’m not mistaken a Korean scored from a free kick against Nigeria.
Oh. And the Greek keeper dropped a bollock from a cross against Greece. That was the first goal scored from a free kick in the tournament.
Players seem to having the toughest time to dip the ball down after the initial lift. It might well be the ball, but they have had enough time to get used to it now. I think it is the technique. Too many people are trying to “Ronaldo” the ball and smack it center and hard (to be fair it should be credited to Junhinio), and that isn’t the best way to take a free kick. Would Beckham have the similar difficulties? One can only speculate.
The corners have been absolutely terrible too. Does that counter my own point? I do honestly think that the technique has generally been miserable in this tournament as far as set plays go.
Well, there are definitely a few players who have been able to keep the ball under control. The Japanese, for instance. Landon Donovan has had consistent set-piece delivery. Messi has also been pretty decent with it. Ronaldo is obviously able to keep it down. Özil can control it.
I think a lot of the bad press about the Jabulani has to do with technically iffy players who would normally have difficulty anyway getting their delivery all wrong. Then their incompetence has an effect on the perception of the ball overall. It has more to do with technical inability to deal with a new ball than the ball itself. I have no doubt that it’s having an impact on the tournament, but it’s overstated I feel.
I saw a video of Seedorf trying out the ball and figuring it out in no time (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8748961.stm). I’m sure the video was edited, but I think it shows that a player with great technique can manipulate the ball the way he wants.
i’ve watched the video and i agree with Seedorf, the ball has its flaws but you just have to lose 5 minutes with it to figure it out (if you are a decente player)
Fantastic video. Thanks for the link!
I have been thinking about this since England’s first game actually. They tried some long balls down the flanks hoping Heskey to run and get the ball in the open area, but were miserable in it. It seemed obvious that no one was using good enough technique and there was virtually no back-spin on the ball which is so essential for these passes. I cannot imagine someone technically sound, like say Paul Scholes, would have any problem making that pass.
It’s sad that so few players have “technically” turned up for this world cup. As you guys agree, the ball is simply showing up the players who don’t take technique seriously enough.
How can the ball be an excuse?
Australia’s goal against Ghana came after Marco Bresciano [who is a technically decent but not world-class player] got a free kick over the wall and down. It was too hot for the keeper to hold, with Holman scoring from the spill.
Quagliarella’s goal against Slovakia was perfection in trajectory rather than a screamer. David Villa seemed to have no problem keeping the ball down.
If I understand correctly the Bundesliga has been using the Jabulani since it was released late last year so it’s not surprising the Germans are used to it. However if it does behave significantly differently then you must adjust. Those players mentioned above are just a few of those who have. There’s no excuse for those who have not been mentally flexible enough to manage.
Regarding Jabulani & Bundesliga, quoting my own comment from Spain – Switzerland analysis:
“I do not know which media outlet is feeding this Jabulani story to you but it just isn’t exactly true.[...]
Now for the Bundesliga, as was pointed out, each team has their own contracts with suppliers. Some teams are with Adidas, some with Nike etc. Adidas introduced the Jabulani at the end of 2009, and the teams on contract with Adidas started using it. But you have to know that each Bundesliga team usually practices with the ball that they will use in the next fixture. So if the Adidas team has an away game next, they will not use Jabulani. In contrast, a Nike team with an upcoming away game against Adidas team, would use Jabulani for practicing that week. So all players must have had a few weeks with it. Most importantly though, I do not think that made them better with the Jabulani, just less prone to become to used to one ball alone, and instead prepare them for a variety of balls.
If the characteristics are really so different as some top players claim, having practiced with a variety of balls is the real advantage there.
Now for the Germans, they have not however (to disregard some rumors):
- practiced at high altitude with the ball during season
- practiced a full season with it
- practiced in every game for the remainder of the season with it
Now Löw clearly found a weakness in Australia’s game and exploited it beautifully. It happened to be that playing long, flat passes worked extremely well against their high defensive line. This does appear to compliment Jabulani’s characteristics much better than what many other teams tried to do with it (high long balls/crosses, long range shooting). So if anything the Jabulani didn’t make Germany better, it rather hindered teams that have tactics build around these only (exploiting size).
Having said all that, I think it would be great if the best players in the world would all free up some time to help develop the ball for the next big tournament. The ball should empower the best players, not hinder them. In this case, I am not sure if it is just lack of practice with the ball or flaw in ball characteristics. Here is hope the players struggling right now will improve with it as the tournament progresses.
Nevertheless, uncovering the reality about the balls in different leagues and how it might effect respective national teams would make for a great high profile article and be much better than this flawed stereotyping we are seeing.”
If Beckham was healthy, he’d have plenty of time to get used to the ball, as it’s the MLS match ball.
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/results/index.html Japan is 2 nd time out of group stages 2002
Excellent review, as usual, but I think your point about Denmark conceding free-kicks in dangerous positions is just a tad contrived; 15 of the 24 free-kicks Denmark conceded were in Japan’s half. Certainly, the fact that they conceded 9 in their own half, as compared to the 5 given away by Japan in their half, may have proved telling. However, the total number of free-kicks conceded statistic is a little misleading.
“It’s the first time they’ve qualified from the group stage of the World Cup in their history”
This isn’t true
edit: Already mentioned above I just noticed.
I’m pretty sad to see the back of Jon Dahl Tomasson. I always thought he was an excellent player and got really sick of hearing Anglocentric commentators constantly saying, “Well he couldn’t make it at Newcastle.”
Still, nice to see him get the Danish goalscoring record.
I share your admiration of Tomasson;
such a versatile player; his movement and general style reminded me of Bergkamp and Eidhuer Gudjonssen, without possessing the same level of talent as the former, obviously, but a tactically intelligent and technically proficient player nonetheless.
He could play as a false 9, a No.10, a second striker; amazing.
I know he is winding down his career in the Danish league, but I’d love to see him spend another season in a stronger and slow league, perhaps Italy or France.
Tomasson is currently playing for Feyenoord in the Netherlands still. Had a rough year though. Quality player always.
Thankful for another wonderful article, but curious as to why you’ve skipped USAvSlovenia and USAvAlgeria – tactically intriguing matches with many changes on USA’s part. I’ve been eager for an analysis of Bob Bradley’s maneuvers.
ZM has covered 2 games a day since the start of the tourney in tremendous detail with spot on analysis. Right before that, he wrote up to 5 articles a day to predict tactics, playstyle & formation of all teams participating.
As far as I know, he is not getting paid for this (though it will hopefully land him a nice job).
So while it would be great to see team USA covered, just keep in mind that not all games can be due to time requirements. Being from England he naturally always covered the England game. He chose Germany – Serbia over Slovenia – USA for the higher profile (judging from first game / history). And for USA – Algeria, the game was played at the same time as the England game again…
Anyway, hopefully we’ll see USA vs Ghana analyzed here, should be a great game. I like both teams so far and glad to know one of them will make it to the quarter finals (would be second time for USA, first time for Ghana).
i realize this is a one man not-for-profit operation. and believe me if there were ever a paypal donation button added to the site the bills would get paid for a long time. It was curious to me that USA was skipped twice, that’s all. They have been one of the most exciting sides in the tournament, deploying various differing tactics, scoring goals after making adjustments, and look a fair bet to make a semifinal run. Also, analyses of the group matches would have been insightful to England fans, especially the USA/Slovenia match, prior to England group finale.
All that said, I love the site and the work done here. I don’t want to sound ungrateful
i also have a feeling that to be perfectly honest, usa doesn’t play that interesting soccer. hopefully we’ll see what we can do with some possession against ghana today
Just a little remark. It’s Kahlenberg not Kahlenburg.
Love this site, it’s really worth a view. Keep up the good work!
Praising Japan might be a little premature here. In today’s match they benefited from Jabulani, some poor goalkeeping and exceptionally bad finishing on the part of Denmark.
So far Japan had an absolute stinker against Cameroon, a tactically sound game against the Netherlands and a 3:1 against Denmark not telling the whole story of the match.
Not convinced, sorry. The side does have quality and some of the attacking moves today were just brilliant. So far I tend to agree with ZM’s initial analysis about them lacking too much up front and at the back to pull off some real upset though. I’ll admit I’m not that familiar with the Asian sides and have to resort to some sweeping generalizations here of course.
Japan vs. Paraguay looks like one of the most open and tactically interesting round of 16 matchups from a neutral point of view. Two very functional sides and for a change the Asians may actually have more flair to their game than their opponents. Up until now Paraguay have failed to service their main weapon Lucas Barrios, making the distinctly average Valdez look good in comparison. The midfield would have to step up their game substantially to properly utilize the Argentianian born striker though and I’m not sure they can actually do that.
So Japan might actually get to the quarter finals and I guess that should be considered a major success. Beyond that ? I don’t think so.
They have already surpassed all expectations so what are you not convinced of again?
Great analysis. This japanese side is impressing me: before the WC, I thought they would finish last in their group, but no, two deserved victories and a rather good game against a top-class team. I actually identify with Japan, since I’m short like almost all the players lol (the tallest lad is Tulio Tanaka, a brazilian-born defender). But they have good chances against Paraguay, specially if Honda, Endo, and Matsui continue to play this top-class football.
Maybe ZM can write an article how a football team of short players can overcome a team with tall players?
What impresses even more isn’t just their height, is their body structure. With exception made to the GK and the centrbacks, all players are slim-build (they make Rooney look like a weightlifter).
That would be Barcelona? Maybe that’s why they eventually went for Zlatan Ibrahimović?
Japan also made the last 16 when they were hosts in 2002. They even got the number 1 spot back then.
I was going to draw attention to the fact that Japan had already qualified in 2002, but it’s fortunate that someone else has already done so, as it would be very unfair that this should be my first comment on this website. So here are the compliments for all your wonderful analysis from a recent fan. Brazilian greetings!
It was sad to see Tommasson this cup. So sad.
Personally, I thought the game turned when Japans started playing high pressure. When they raised their line of confrontation, the Danish defenders had a hard time keeping moves going. Turnovers lead to the freekicks both times, I believe.
ZM, Japan have qualified from the group stage before in 2002.
I think the comment regarding Japan was meant to highlight that it is the first time they made it to the round of 16 AWAY from home, but was omitted/forgotten as others have pointed out.
However, here in Mexico many people have the idea that Japan was another host that didn’t qualify to the Knock-Out stage. Seriously, many people think that Japan didn’t make it to the Round of 16 in year 2002. Where did they get that idea?
I’m pretty sure the altitude has something to do with the unpredictable nature of the ball. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a lot of the matches are played at significant altitudes.
Honda’s free kick is also known as the knuckle ball (like in baseball). Search for videos on it like “buduiza”.
BY suggesting Denmark bought it on themselves (in terms of conceding 2 freekicks) is massively misleading. Those freekick statistics account for almost 10 conceded by Denmark in the final 10-20 minutes inside the Japanese half/penalty area. Far from dangerous areas. If anything they should be attributed to poor goalkeeping by Sorensen.
Kudos to Japan for getting into the second round for the first time on foreign soil. Considering that the Japanese decided to get serious about football only 17 years ago with the formation of their J-League their progress has been frighteningly quick. Considering how quickly they became world-class in other areas (automotive, electronics, indeed even single malt whiskies) I can see them becoming a footballing world power in another 20 years. And in a wealthy, super organized nation of 130 million they would not only have a huge talent pool to draw from, but also the necessary infrastructure and funding.
Been reading Simon Kuper?
From what I understand, soccer is now one of the top sports in Japan- trailing only baseball in terms of team sports. One thing that impresses me about Japan is that they have produced some international quality players, i.e. Hidetoshi Nakata.
about the free kick,if one watched J-league match(Thank God my country showed highlight and some delayed matches from J-league),there’s a significant portion of the goal that have been scored by high-speed,curved free kicks(if fact,there’s at least 2 or 3 match in which the team get their edge from free kick)
i usually called this as the “David Beckham” effect.he is highly revered in asian countries and very much so in the late 1990s/early 2000 when Manchester United are progressively marketing their team(especially David Beckham,with his bishie,or beautiful appeal) in the Far/South East asia.Those players that one see are used to be one of many lads who want to be and “bend” it like him,consequently giving an unwritten law that every top player must have a superb free-kick technique included in their repertoir
so Manchester United arrival to asian countries benefited both parties.Manchester United have a lucrative market here(and still unchallanged to this day) while they also inspired any young,bright lads of the era.
South Korea and Japan lead the way in free kick taking this year. It’s like they have mastered the art of striking the ball. They aren’t tall sides but they are a threat to any team from any type of set piece. It’s all about the delivery of the set piece. As a Liverpool and England fan, I am forever frustrated that one of the best players in the world, Steven Gerrard, 99 times out of 100 can’t make a set piece count. He often hits the first man on corners or the wall on free kicks. It is all about how he strikes the ball and then the trajectory the ball therefore takes because of where abouts the ball is hit. Its also about the technique of the shot or cross. They are very technically based players. England need another David Beckham maybe. Free kicks and corners can be the difference between a win and a loss. Any free kick or corner should be an opportunity of creating a chance to score.
Mike
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Heh, if it helps, Germany has done no better on set pieces so far. In Kroos, they have someone excellent at set pieces in the squad but unless Schweinsteiger misses the match due to his injury, Kroos will not start.
It should be noted that not all Asian teams are actually short – that’s an old stereotype that hasn’t been true for a while. IIRC, South Korea have actually been among the taller half of the teams at most of the recent World Cups. (Also, the Chinese were the second-tallest team in 2002.)
But certainly both South Korea and Japan have been very dangerous on set pieces, both shooting directly and serving the ball into the box. The same goes for the United States, who faced three taller teams in Group C but consistently turned set pieces into real scoring chances. My impression is that on other teams too much attention has been paid to the players trying to get on the end of crosses, and not enough to the quality of the service.
There might be something to the Beckham effect mentioned above: Japan had several different players taking free kicks and corner kicks, all of whom did fairly well… and had two excellent direct free kick goals from two different players, neither of whom was named Nakamura. Not many teams have three or more outstanding dead ball specialists.
Speaking from a Japanese perspective, let me assure you there is nothing to this Beckham effect. Beckham was popular in Japan, but certainly not a major long-term influence on Japanese football.
If one must identify a foreign influence, Brazilians surely deserve the credit, as Brazilian players and coaches have had a strong impact from the inception of the J-League in 1994 through the present.
I thought Denmark were unfortunate to lose this match and I can’t understand why Japan have been so highly praised. In my opinion Japan have been quite very consistent with their game strategy in all three games and it seems almost like circumstances have worked in their favour (no coach can account for the first two goals which effectively ended the game).
Japan don’t seem particularly interesting tactically (unlike teams such as Chile or even Denmark who have a very intelligent coach) and so i am not so excited to see them progress.
Here in japan, it is said two tactical changes in the earlier time(10-15min of the 1st half) were decisive for this game. First, JNT started with relatively ‘offensive’ formation —2 central MFs(Abe&Endo) + 1 attacking MF(Okubo) to push back opponent’s pressure. But it gave DNT free spaces and several chances, so our side returned to former ‘defensive’ style — 2 central MFs(Endo&Hasebe) + 1 anchor(Abe). The second was the way to cope with Tomasson’s slick and dynamic movements. Zonal style wasn’t effective for our ability, so Tulio stuck/chased him and Abe backed/filled the open space after Tulio.