Paraguay 0-0 Japan: neither side takes control
The starting line-ups
Paraguay progress on penalties after neither side could score in a very poor 120 minutes of football.
Japan were unchanged from their usual 4-1-4-1 formation and XI. Paraguay named Roque Santa Cruz alongside Lucas Barrios, with Edgar Benitez on the left, and Enrique Vera on the right.
Paraguay’s was the more interesting formation, a 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 hybrid that saw Benitez staying wide on the left and looking to break into the penalty area, whilst Vera played much more centrally, forming a midfield triangle with Cristian Riveros and Nestor Ortigoza. To make up for the lack of right-sided width, Santa Cruz tended to drift to the right when not in possession.
Japan seemed more boxey than usual – less interchanging between the front players, slower and more wasteful in possession. Keisuke Honda dropped deep looking for the ball, but there were rarely players looking to get beyond him and keep moves flowing.
There were basically two problems why the match was so static and uneventful. Firstly, both sides played conservative midfields – looking primarily to get behind the ball, and leave the creating to the front players. There was generally a battle between Riveros-Vera and Nakazawa-Endo in the middle, with Abe and Ortigoza as the insurance players. It meant those two were the players on the pitch with the most amount of time on the ball, but neither used their freedom to create much in the way of goalscoring chances.
Early in the second half, both Abe and Oritgoza suddenly went on dashes forward, as if they’d suddenly realised they had the opportunity to influence the game in the final third. Both found themselves free in the box, but both failed to get a shot or pass away.
The second problem was that the quality of the passing throughout the game was atrocious. Paraguay finished with a 60% pass completion rate, Japan recorded a pitiful 53%. Neither side could construct meaningful attacks, either from central positions or wide areas – the crossing from the full-backs was also very disappointing, particularly from Claudio Morel.
A lack of creativity
We were left to conclude that these are two sides simply lacking in creativity. Japan have impressed because of the technical quality of their individual players, but in truth, they haven’t played exciting football. The performance against Denmark flattered them slightly – their opening goals were both from free-kicks having been the less adventurous team early on. With the Danes needing three to progress, space opened up and Japan looked more impressive. They keep the ball well, but unlocking defences is not their speciality. Paraguay, meanwhile, have also been fairly negative; they’re still waiting for their first goal from a forward player in this competition
In fairness, both managers tried to change things as the game went on. Takeshi Okada took off Abe and Matsui and introduced two more offensive-minded players in Shinji Okazaki, shifting to a vague 4-2-3-1 system for extra-time.
Gerardo Martino also put on goalscorers – Oscar Cardozo and Nelson Valdez both arrived, but had little impact even as Paraguay moved to a more standard 4-3-3. Tiredness became a factor, there were few runs forward from full-back, and penalties seemed inevitable very, very early on.
Conclusion
A disappointing match between two sides who didn’t want to take control of the game. The two holding midfielders were the players with the most time and space in the centre of the pitch, but neither dictated play or created, and the lack of goals was no surprise.
Paraguay possibly shaded the match, but in truth it was a game deserving of the 0-0 scoreline. Paraguay will have to play twice as well to even stand a chance of defeating Spain in the quarter-final.
Paraguay 0-0 Japan: neither side takes control
I think you mean Endo-Hasebe not Endo-Nakazawa.
Come on, Z; we’re anxiosly waiting for the QF previews…
(this game reminded me of those classic 1/8 games of days past, where two teams are going for the PK’s from the get go, realizing that QF of the WORLD CUP is the farthest their respective countries have ever been to: Ireland – Romania (90); Switzerland – Ukraine (06)…
Bloody hell, give me some rest…
Just read Jonathan Wilson’s piece on Serbia in the guardian, altough a week too late; he cited my favourite match of all time, the Champions League semi from ‘91. It seems he has a soft spot for the underdogs…
Thanks for the writing!
Well, its not like you haven’t brought this on yourself…
One of the key tactics of the Japan manager that no-one is yet to catch up on (most evident, granted from the Denmark match) is the deployment of Honda in the forward role and the use of late midfielders progressing beyond him.
Honda’s made a great adjustment higher up, pressing the defenders but when the ball is played to him very efficiently and quickly plays it to one of the midfielders who look to get close. That’s why they played Okube, a forward on the left but while it has worked on a team level, failed as an individual.
http://tomwfootball.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/world-cup-tactics-after-the-false-nine-the-false-10/
I think that idea was explained here but I may have got the wrong idea from what you’re saying.
Honda was almost like a “false nine.” Tom Williams describes it as a false ten which more likely describes Ozil rather than Honda who was actually playing ina forwad position. But, yes, loosely that described what I was saying – Honda was the pivot to play around with late runners particularly excelling.
Yes, you’re right. Honda has clearly been playing as a false nine. I used his example to show that attacking midfielders are playing further forward than expected, but neither Ozil nor Sneijder have actually led the attack like Honda.
Terrible game to watch but I have a soft spot for Paraguay so glad they got through.
Paraguay have two formations, a cautious one and an aggressive one. http://defensiveminded.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/the-two-faces-of-paraguay/
For some reason they went with the cautious approach against a very defensive Japan team. Paraguay may be reverting to their bad habit of being too timid in the World Cup. By the time they went to their aggressive 433 the midfield was to tired to press effectively and they were all afraid to concede a late goal.
I have certain soft spot for Paraguay too… From 1998, when they failed to convert a tight game into a penalty shootout – against the champion-to-be.
And here’s the third face, New Zealand the recipients. http://defensivemidfielder.wordpress.com/2010/06/25/paraguay-must-buck-up-or-pack-up/
A dull game, but I enjoyed the performance of Ortigoza. I can’t have been the only one off my chair when he dragged that stumpy torso of his into the box on that dribble!
If Paraguay persist in playing lazy long-diagonals to Morel against Spain (which you imagine they will, given the space he’ll have to stroll forward against the inside-straying Iniesta), expect Sergei Ramos to take up his late-game position on the right wing at an earlier stage.
Also, am I alone in wondering what Riveros offers Steve Bruce that differs so dramatically from Cana and Cattermole’s characteristics? Rash in the challenge, ponderous in the pass – he stands out as neither playmaker or wave-breaker.
Ortigoza was my main highlight too!
The only good thing about this game was the penalties. They were well shot. Other than that, it was a good game for those people that have trouble sleeping.
Exactly – it was the first time I’d got some real sleep since the World Cup began.
I didn’t buy all the relentless negativity from the ITV commentators. It was a fascinating, tense game from beginning to end. No goals, okay, but quite a few chances, a knife-edge tactical battle and then penalties to finish. If it had ended 2-2, as it quite easily could have done, no one would have said anything about the lack of quality. Much more engaging than Holland strolling to victory against Slovakia or Brazil brushing Chile aside.
I watched the highlights on ESPN and they really had to stretch it to fill up the 30 minutes allocated for each game. No, seriously, they had to show the last four minutes of regular time, even though nothing was going on. They were showing crosses which were punched out by keepers; if the highlights were lame, I can only imagine 120 minutes of the real match…
I am not ungreatfull though, the other 7 2nd round games were not bad at all…
It was occasionally interesting but the lack of quality in the final third made the game torturous to watch. It’s fun to analyse the game tactically, but not if the performance of the players is so poor.
Indeed. I don’t often find games so boring, but this was pretty crap. This and Hamburg 0-0 Fulham are the least interesting games covered on this site…
Come off it, this game was a tactical masterclass and was up there with the all-time great matches. I’ve already re-watched it several times just to study the subtle tactical nuances of both coaches. It’s amazing, I notice something new every time I watch it. A classic.
Japan asked Honda to do too much… IMO Japan will be much better if they have someone like Cavanni – a big strong guy upfront.
Japan changed their playing style quite suddenly in this worldcup, after their defeats pre-worldcup. They went from open and “latin” play to the style they had played in the last four games. Apparently this worked for them, and, in fact, this my redirect their future approach to football.
I know this is solely a tactics website, but it would be interesting to hear people’s thoughts on the Japanese squad. Okada has been under fire since well before the tournament for benching some of Japan’s brightest talents. This includes attacking fullback Uchida (now of Schalke), Catania striker Morimoto, and the Nakamura brothers. In fact, of this group, only Kengo Nakamura saw anytime; and that was late in this match against Paraguay.
Since all of these players have special skills specifically suited to attacking play, it seems a shame we did not see them utilized in a side that keeps possession but has no cutting edge.
Such a disappointment!
This Japan side had nothing in common with the team that defeated Denmark just a few days earlier. When they didn’t have 10 men behind the ball, they were misplacing passes as if it was the first time they had ever played together. It strikes me that Okada simply got cold feet and reverted to the more conservative approach that served him so poorly in warmups before the Cup.