WC2010 review: Japan
Japan managed to turn around a poor run of form leading into the World Cup finals to be one of the best-performed teams in the competition.
The Blue Samurai were one poor penalty kick off making it to the quarter finals after earlier being tipped to finish bottom of Group E.
Led by Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo, Japan were dangerous in attack whilst Marcus Tulio Tanaka led a stoic defence which gave nothing away.
The Asian nation can take heart after this performance which showed that the Japanese team can fight back when forced into a corner and this performance will surely have them as early faviourites for the Asian Cup in Qatar in January 2011.
Finished: 9th
Record: Wins – 2; Draws – 0; Losses – 2; Points – 6
Matches: Cameroon (1-0), Holland (0-1), Denmark (3-1), RO16-Paraguay (0p-0)
Goals: 4
Against: 2
tribalfootball.com’s Star Man
Keisuke Honda (Led the frontline with aplomb and became a household name along the way)
Official statistics
Minutes played
Keisuke Honda 390
Yuji Nakazawa 390
Eiji Kawashima 390
Marcus Tulio Tanaka 390
Yuto Nagatomo 390
Yuichi Komano 390
Yasuhito Endo 389
Top scorers
Keisuke Honda 2
Shinji Okazaki 1
Yasuhito Endo 1
Total shots
Keisuke Honda 9
Yoshito Okubo 6
Daisuke Matsui 5
Shinji Okazaki 5
Pass Completion Rate
Yuki Abe 70%
Yasuhito Endo 69%
Yuichi Komano 68%
Yuji Nakazawa 63%
Most Fouls
Keisuke Honda 19
Daisuke Matsui 9
Yoshito Okubo 8
Yuto Nagatomo 7
Yellow cards
Yasuhito Endo 2
Yuto Nagatomo 2
Yuki Abe 1
Daisuke Matsui 1
Keisuke Honda 1
Red cards
none
Saves
Eiji Kawashima 17
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Results & Fixtures
Matches
| Home | Away | Score | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun May 13th | |||
| Stoke City | Bolton Wanderers | 2 - 2 | 14:00 |
| West Bromwich Albion | Arsenal | 2 - 3 | 14:00 |
| Everton | Newcastle United | 3 - 1 | 14:00 |
| Sunderland | Manchester United | - 1 | 14:00 |
| Wigan Athletic | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 3 - 2 | 14:00 |
| Manchester City | Queens Park Rangers | 3 - 2 | 14:00 |
| Swansea City | Liverpool | 14:00 | |
| Norwich City | Aston Villa | 14:00 | |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Fulham | 14:00 | |
| Chelsea | Blackburn Rovers | 2 - 1 | 14:00 |
Tables
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 38 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 64 | 89 |
| Manchester United | 38 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 56 | 89 |
| Arsenal | 38 | 21 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 70 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 38 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 25 | 69 |
| Newcastle United | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 5 | 65 |
| Chelsea | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 19 | 64 |
| Everton | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 56 |
| Liverpool | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 52 |
| Fulham | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | -3 | 52 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | -7 | 47 |
| Swansea City | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -7 | 47 |
| Norwich City | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | -14 | 47 |
| Sunderland | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | -1 | 45 |
| Stoke City | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | -17 | 45 |
| Wigan Athletic | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | -20 | 43 |
| Aston Villa | 38 | 7 | 17 | 14 | -16 | 38 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | -23 | 37 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 38 | 10 | 6 | 22 | -31 | 36 |
| Blackburn Rovers | 38 | 8 | 7 | 23 | -30 | 31 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 38 | 5 | 10 | 23 | -42 | 25 |
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