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Preview

After their last gasp winning goal against North Korea the previous weekend, it was time for Japan to continue their quest for points, with a yet undefeated Indonesia next up. While they had played at the country’s national stadium last time around, expecting a significantly lower attendance figure on this occasion had meant that they shifted across to the stadium at the Japanese FA’s headquarters for this early afternoon kick-off on a dull Tokyo June Sunday. It had been sunny a week earlier, and the surface of the pitch in the national stadium ‘proper’ had left a lot to be desired. Not that this playing surface seemed much of an improvement; it was rather on the contrary. It had clearly been raining, and probably around 75 % of the pitch was muddy, with only the flanks at either end being green. 

Japan had lost wide right man Masaaki Mori to injury during the second half of last week’s win, and his replacement then, Tomoyuki Kajino, was a starter this time around. The rest of the line-up remains intact, and so a continuation of manager Kenzo Yokoyama’s prefered 3-5-2 formation is expected. It also meant that Yokoyama had identified the missing link in his midfield puzzle, where Mizunuma had delivered a ‘Man of the Match’ performance last time around, making it impossible for his manager to leave him out. 

Indonesia supremo Nirwan Bakrie had made two changes from his most recent starting eleven, the one which he had fielded in Hong Kong for the 1-1 draw last weekend. We remember from that game how energetic midfield man Rully Nere had left the pitch some ten minutes before half-time, presumably with an injury. Azhari Rangkuti had come on in his place, and he had done enough to warrant a place in the starting XI on this occasion. In addition, there’s no Mustaqim in the line-up here. The wide left midfielder has been replaced by Agusman Riyadi, who last time out had earned a couple of minutes towards the end, stepping into striker Yacobi’s role. 

Japan had moved top of the pile after the win over North Korea, but they knew that last week’s adversaries had three home matches remaining, so nothing but a win was going to be sufficient for today’s hosts as they continued on their path towards the second phase of the World Cup qualification. 

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Japan	3	1	2	0	2	1	4
2	North Korea	3	1	1	1	3	3	3
3	Indonesia	3	0	3	0	1	1	3
4	Hong Kong	3	0	2	1	2	3	2

Japan (3-5-2)

Player	Notes	Age	Club
1 Shigetatsu Matsunaga (c)		26
2 Katsuyoshi Shinto		28
3 Tomoyuki Kajino		28
5 Tetsuji Hashiratani		24
6 Takumi Horiike		23
7 Masami Ihara		21
8 Takafumi Mizunuma		29
10 Manasao Sasaki		26
16 Mitsunori Yoshida		27
17 Osamu Maeda	sub 67′	23
23 Kenta Hasegawa		23

Substitutes
21 Hisashi Kurosaki	on 67′	21

Manager: Kenzo Yokoyama

Indonesia (4-5-1)

Player	Notes	Age	Club
1 Eddy Harto		26
3 Jaya Hartono		25
6 Robby Darwis		24
8 Agusman Riyadi	sub 26′	26
9 Ricky Yacobi		26
10 Jessie Mustamu		25
11 I Made Pasek Wijaya		19
12 Maman Suryaman	sub 73′	25
15 Herry Kiswanto		34
17 Azhari Rangkuti
18 Lubis Hamdani		30

Substitutes
7 Harry Susanto	on 73′
13 Mustaqim	on 26′	24

Manager: Nirwan Bakrie

Tactical line-ups

Match report

First half: 

While our video from the game contains 90 minutes of action, the very kick-off itself has been left out, as we arrive a few seconds into the proceedings. The home side, again clad all in red, are attacking towards the left as we watch, with Indonesia surely hopeful of obtaining another point to the three which they already have in the bank. 

Come to think of it, this is the third outing in which we’re studying the Indonesian select for this qualification campaign, and they’ve yet to reveal to us who their captain is. There is once again no player with a visible token telling the world that he’s his manager’s ‘extended arm’ on the pitch. Perhaps the most obvious choice would’ve been Kiswanto, as the libero and the most senior member of the side, but there’s no captain’s armband around his upper arm. Another couple of candidates could’ve been Mustamu and Yacobi. 

The playing surface is really poor right from the start, and unsurprisingly they’re worse right in the centre of the pitch, so keeping the ball on the deck and trying to play smooth football isn’t easy for even the most technically advanced teams. The home side, buoyed by that excellent come-back win last week, have their sight firmly set on another two points, and look the sharper from the outset. Having identified the pitch as treacherous, they instantly play the ball in the direction of their pair of forwards, and thus leaving the visitors to dally in the centre of the pitch. Already a minute into the half there’s an attempt from Sasaki 30 yards out, but there was never any risk of it finding its target, and it could be seen more as setting the tone rather than a serious attempt. Those who were present were well clad on this occasion, so not only was it slippery on the pitch, but also cold and humid in the stands. The contrast to a week earlier was stark. 

Japan move ahead after only five minutes of play, with Takumi Horiike finding the bottom left corner from just inside the area after some neat build-up play. The Indonesian defence on that occasion never got anywhere close to their opponents, and looked poorly organized. It was a very sharp finish by Japan’s number 6, whom we have become accustomed to seeing in the heart of their defence, though on this occasion he had been moved into the right-sided slot which had become available following what was likely an injury to their regular flank operator Masaaki Mori. Mizunuma and Maeda had been instrumental in setting the strike up with some rapid interpassing inside the final third, and the former of the two found Horiike to his advanced right. It took a fine first touch from the goalscorer to set himself up for the shot. 1-0 so early on must have felt like a relief to the home side’s management, although cool customer Yokoyama never displayed any emotions on the touchline. 

Reaching the quarter of an hour mark, there is not much in terms of difference between the two sides. The Indonesians look to have settled after the disappointment of the early concession, and perhaps have their players, too, been instructed from the touchline to move the ball forward more quickly rather than to try and play their way towards the final third of the pitch. Agusman is their lone figure up top, as they continue in the 4-5-1 formation to which we’ve become accustomed to at this point, although he does receive some support from Yacobi, previously seen as their focal point up top, but who on this occasion is working in the right-sided midfield role. 

Japan’s deep lying midfield man Hashiratani has not yet got going, and he had been subjected to a very stern, poorly timed challenge only a few minutes in from Yacobi. Perhaps was he feeling the effects. He isn’t alone, though. Hasegawa, too, the right-sided alibi in their central midfield trio also needs to be connected if the Japanese are to play their way forward, rather than lumping the ball in the direction of their pair of strikers. Not that sophisticated football is the way to go about it on a pitch like this. 

On their next foray forward, the hosts increase their lead. Just after the 16 minute mark, Indonesia find themselves two down, and are staring the first defeat of their qualification campaign in the face. Along the left hand side, Sasaki had provided a fine outlet in the win against North Korea the previous Sunday, when he had set up Mizunuma for the equalizer, and on this occasion he would often battle it out with Indonesia right-back Hamdani. Sasaki won a corner off the defender, and it was Mizunuma, who had assisted for the opening goal, who curled it into the centre of the six yard area, where goalkeeper Harto really made himself look silly. He attempted to come off his line, possibly in an attempt to claim the ball, but he’d clearly taken his eyes off what was going on around him, and a couple of yards before the ball would’ve reached the custodian, Maeda rose unchallengedly to head the ball home via the ground for his first goal of the qualification campaign. 

No sooner than having gone two goals to the good, the hosts strike again. Indonesia’s pint-sized midfielder Suryaman has a poor minute as he twice concedes free-kicks for poor challenges against Hasegawa, the latter of those occuring just to the right of the area from a Japanese point of view. When there’s Mizunuma’s precise right foot to pin a set-piece into the area, there’s always the risk of danger to their opponents. On this occasion he whipped it towards the near post, where Maeda didn’t connect, but he posed a major distraction so that goalkeeper Harto once again couldn’t get to the ball, which more or less dropped on to Shinto’s foot, with the defender stumbling upon it, but still saw it end up in goal off the upright. Everything which Japan attempted seemed to end up in the back of the net. Just shy of 19 minutes, and they were 3-0 up, without really knowing how. 

When Japan’s fourth goal occurs on 24 minutes, it instinctively sounds like they’re dishing out a feast of attacking football, though this still isn’t quite the case. There is not much in terms of enterprising play in the five minutes between the third and fourth goal, but the Indonesian defence is at sixes and sevens when Mizunuma strikes a ball for Sasaki to chase down the left flank. For some reason, it is Kiswanto rather than right-back Hamdani who goes chasing towards the corner flag, while his centre-back companion Darwis is monitoring Yoshida’s movements inside the box. When Sasaki’s cross inevitably makes its way into the heart of the penalty area, Hasegawa has acres of space, and with a simple touch he sets himself up for an easy finish under goalkeeper Harto. The hosts’ goal difference now favours them greatly in the chase for progression towards the next phase of the qualification. 

At the next pause in play, Indonesia supremo Bakrie decides to withdraw his lone forward Riyadi for enterprising winger Mustaqim. He realizes that he has to do something, although it may be a surprise that there is no change in defensive personnel. The 4-0 scoreline is brutal from the visitors’ point of view, but with defending like they’ve displayed hitherto, they can have few complaints, although they must also rue the opponents’ efficiency in front of goal. 

Once again the Indonesians are in a 4-5-1 formation, with the previously sturdy Eddy Harto between the sticks. His performance so far has left quite a lot to be desired, as he was definitely at fault for the second goal, possibly even the third. Having only conceded once in their three previous outings, his inclusion had been unquestionable. If there were shouts in English from the Japanese fans in the stand behind Harto, he would’ve heard “dodgy ‘keeper”. 

Their defensive foursome is once again made up of right-back Lubis Hamdani, libero Herry Kiswanto, their most senior member at 34, Robby Darwis in front of him, and then Jaya Hartono at left-back. It could be noted how the latter was actually tracking Japan forward Maeda around the time when the fourth goal went in, so it is a distinct possibility that Bakrie had changed things around defensively at that point already. Hartono’s positioning would baffle on a number of occasions for the remainder of the half. A swap in formation seemed distinct in the wake of that substitution which we’ve mentioned once the fourth goal had gone in, but Hartono could well have been deployed as a man-marker for Maeda even earlier. 

Previously we’ve seen Ricky Yacobi in the solitary striker’s role, though on this occasion he had been shifted into a wide right midfield position, albeit a more attacking one than had been seen by Wijaya in their two matches leading up to this one. The latter was featuring along the left hand side this time around. Sitting at the deep end was once again Jessie Mustamu, their goalscorer in Hong Kong last Sunday. In the inside right position was Azhari Rangkuti, while the busy Maman Suryaman was occupying the berth to Mustamu’s slightly advanced left. Covering ground up top was Agusman Riyadi until his substitution. 

The home side are also a familiarity from their three earlier matches, although as we have noted, there is no Mori in their starting line-up on this occasion. He would have featured as their right-sided midfielder. In the win against North Korea, he had been substituted during the course of the second half, and Shinto had moved into his position. On this occasion it is Takumi Horiike who is operating along Japan’s right hand side, switching wide from his accustomary central defensive duties. He seems to have a good engine, does Horiike, moving up and down that right flank to good effect. His opening goal had been invaluable to the hosts. 

Team captain Shigetatsu Matsunaga is keeping his position between the sticks. He has given a solid impression so far in the qualification, safe both on the line and when coming for aerial balls. He still has young libero Masami Ihara directly in front of him, and while he is rarely challenged defensively during this half, he could possibly have been more daring when in possession. Around him are Katsuyoshi Shinto and Tomoyuki Kajino, and in particular the latter is strong in combat. Shinto is probably somewhat more raffined on the ball. His goal had come with a stroke of fortune, but he had been in the right place at the right time. 

Following up on his fine performance last week, Takafumi Mizunuma is once again on song. He has already assisted for three goals, and had sent Sasaki away down the left flank before Hasegawa’s goal. He has certainly claimed that third midfield berth as his own at this point, being Japan’s most creative player. He still has Tetsuji Hashiratani in the deep-lying, central role, while Kenta Hasegawa continues to probe in his role as the right-sided option among the three. While they’re hardly being tested defensively this afternoon, the three of them make out a decent midfield combination, where there’s complementary qualities. Hashiratani has not been too prominent so far, but his capability in mounting from the back has hardly been requested. Whenever one of the defenders move forward, Hashiratani is the one who quietly slots in at the back. 

Working in the numer 10 jersey is Japan’s wide left choice Manasao Sasaki. He carries out his manager’s instructions very dutifully, and has already added another assist to the one which he earned against North Korea. He thrives when he has space to exploit, and against a less organized opponent such as Indonesia on this occasion, Sasaki provides a very useful outlet. 

The frontal pair are once again Mitsunori Yoshida and Osamu Maeda. While they’ve so far in the qualification only delivered a single goal between them, they seem to work off one another to decent effect. Maeda is the one who tirelessly works in the channels, making good use of his technical ability, while Yoshida is more the central focus in their line of attack, and quite a handful in the air. He typically comes up against Indonesia’s physically strongest player Darwis, and they have some interesting tussles in the muddy conditions. 

With a home win already in the bank, the two teams look like they go through the motions for the final quarter of an hour before half time. When Japan move forward, though, they still pose a threat, and when Shinto overlaps from Hasegawa along the right and makes it to the byline, his cross isn’t far away from finding one of the two strikers in front of goal, but a sliced clearance from Kiswanto saves the visitors from conceding yet again. 

Indonesia appear to have switched to something akin to a 3-4-3 formation, or perhaps it could be interpreted as 3-4-2-1, thus: 

Harto
Hartono – Kiswanto – Darwis
Hamdani – Mustamu – Rangkuti – Suryaman
Wijaya – Yacobi – Mustaqim

To define Hartono’s role really isn’t straight forward. Having started out in the same left-back role which we’ve seen in Indonesia’s two most recent qualifiers, he then appears to concentrate on monitoring Maeda’s moves, but in the next moment he might be seen in an outside right position, before he’ll be back conceding a throw-in down by his left corner flag a minute later. Suryaman contributes in the centre of the park more so than towards the left hand side, while both Hamdani and Wijaya keep width along the right. Yacobi had switched back to what is probably his prefered striker’s role once Riyadi had departed. They never threaten to score during the first half. 

Half time score: Japan 4, Indonesia 0

Second half: 

Neither team has made any changes during the interval, and it is Indonesia who get the game back under way through Rangkuti and Yacobi. One wonders what effect Bakrie’s words at half time will have had on the visiting players. As far as the hosts are concerned, they have already made sure that the points are on board, and so they can play without any kind of pressure for the final 45 minutes. 

The hosts settle quickly, keeping the Indonesians pinned back inside their own half for the majority of the first five-six minutes. The Japanese are physically stronger, taller, more athletic, and they seem to master the difficult pitch better. Not that they play with a lot of pace or make very clever use of the ball, but they keep possession and stroke the ball around between themselves. At times they search for either forward in the channels, though with no midfielder seriously intent on making supporting runs, little comes of it. Building such a healthy goal difference is probably more than they had expected, so Japan will surely be thrilled should the game end in a four goal win. 

Indonesia are awarded a free-kick 24-25 yards out on 53 minutes, as Mustaqim is brought down having moved temporarily into a central position. They do manage to raise their game somewhat after the initial struggle to even reach the halfway line, but Kiswanto’s effort slams straight into the defensive wall, and the opportunity is gone. They push a number of players forward, and in one bird’s view moment they appear to be in a 3-2-5 formation as they seek to claw a goal back to at least salvage some pride. Having held their own against the three group opponents hitherto in the qualification, being on the receiving end of such a scoreline is undoubtedly extremely disappointing on their behalf. 

In terms of excitement, the 9000 strong crowd really isn’t being treated to a whole lot in this second half. Japan struggle to break out of second gear, and while the Indonesians are clearly more committed than they had been before the break, they simply do not possess the firepower nor the ingenuity to break down the hosts’ defensive lines. Ihara mops up whatever makes it past central defenders Shinto and Kajino, which in fairness isn’t much. Yacobi isn’t having the best of times in the lone striker’s role, and while Wijaya and Mustaqim attempt to switch flanks, there is not much coming of anything which the visitors try to do. The game’s gone into a stalemate. 

Japan boss Yokoyama decides to introduce young striker Hisashi Kurosaki for Maeda, who finally got his goal, but who had also failed to produce much as far as quality is concerned in this second period. There had been a moment when his header down for Yoshida inside the final third of the pitch may have looked likely to cause something, but the latter was unceremoniously brought down by Hartono, and so it broke down, with the subsequent free-kick delivered towards the rear of the area failing to yield anything. 

The 21 year old striker has only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes when his presence in front of goal is too much to contain for the hapless visiting goalkeeper Harto. Japan, who have so far struggled to display the creativity levels necessary to break the visitors down since the break, see Sasaki tussle with Wijaya for possession along their attacking left flank, and once he’s won the battle and is able to take a few steps and swing yet another of his often effective crosses in with that left foot of his, no defender’s in sight as both the home side’s strikers make a move to get to the ball ahead of the ‘keeper. The ball just evades Yoshida, with Kurosaki just behind him able to reach it and guide it into the back of the net as Harto once again exposes his aerial inability. 5-0! Sasaki has his third assist in two games.

The goal inspires the home side, which finally look interested. They up the pace of the game, players make runs off the ball, and they are able to cause some stir to the loosely organized Indonesian defence. We see Horiike nick the ball off a hesitant Mustamu just outside the visitors’ area, and though the defensive midfield man attempts to win it back by delivering Japan’s first goalscorer a kick to the groin, Horiike works himself into a shooting position from just outside the box to draw a spectacular save from Harto. Kajino heads the following Mizunuma corner on to the top of the crossbar. And as the Japanese make better use of the width on both sides, Hasegawa tries to get round Hartono only to be hacked down to the right of the area. The Thai referee shows leniency with the defender, who easily could’ve been booked. Ten minutes from time, Sasaki wants a hat-trick of assists, but Yoshida fails to beat Harto on the near post. 

We have failed to report that Indonesia made a 73rd minute substitution in withdrawing the less than effective Suryaman for Harry Susanto, who would prove to be a direct replacement, slotting into his predecessor’s midfield role. With Japan enjoying plenty of attacking action around this time, there was no immediate success story as far as Susanto was concerned. The Indonesians could well have conceded for a sixth time, while their only meaningful foray into the Japanese defence was when Hartono slipped a ball over the top in the direction of Yacobi, who for once looked to be away, only to see an alert Matsunaga come off his line to claim the ball before the striker could get to it. 

Through to full time, there is again a slower pace to the game, from which the Indonesians seem to profit, as they are able to move play to inside the Japanese half for spells of possession. There’s a couple of set-piece situations, where Kiswanto tries himself from distance, only to see Matsunaga safely scoop the ball into his arms, and the Japan skipper also wasn’t intimidated when Darwis attempted a bit of push and shove in connection with a right wing corner. 

The referee let the game run almost two minutes into additional time after a late injury to Yacobi, who needed attention from the medical staff before he could resume play. By the end it was immaterial, as the match petered out with the 5-0 scoreline which saw the Japanese in jubilant mood, and the table read as follows: 

1. Japan 4 2 2 0 7-1 6
2. North Korea 3 1 1 1 3-3 3
3. Indonesia 4 0 3 1 1-6 3
4. Hong Kong 3 0 2 1 2-3 2

Japan will complete their home fixtures a week from now as they take on Hong Kong in Kobe, and they’ll be hoping to make it a hat-trick of home wins before the crunch match in Pyongyang a fortnight onwards. The North Koreans, remember, have all their three home fixtures remaining.

Conclusion: 

On a difficult pitch which doesn’t seem to suit a short-passing game, the home side seize the initiative through their early goal, and while they’re not always impressive in how they portray themselves in open play, they will score with just about every attempt during the first half. The second and third goals must be said to be at least partially down to poor goalkeeping, but Japanese efficiency should also be praised. Indonesia make a substitution and tweak their formation in a desperate attempt to not be totally humiliated after the fourth goal goes in. Mizunuma assisted for the first three, then sent Sasaki away for his assist for 4-0. The second half sees a more committed Indonesian outfit, but again goalkeeper Harto is aerially exposed when young substitute striker Kurosaki gets on the scoresheet for their fifth. Hosts bigger and stronger, though five goals is an exaggeration. 

Player ratings

Japan: 
1 Matsunaga 7.1
2 Shinto 7.2
3 Kajino 6.9
5 Hashiratani 7.1
6 Horiike 7.4
7 Ihara 7.0
8 Mizunuma 7.4
10 Sasaki 7.4
16 Yoshida 6.8
17 Maeda 6.9
(21 Kurosaki –
23 Hasegawa 7.1

Indonesia: 
1 Harto 5.0
3 Hartono 5.3
6 Darwis 6.3
8 Riyadi 5.2
(13 Mustaqim 6.5
9 Yacobi 6.4
10 Mustamu 6.3
11 Wijaya 5.9
12 Suryaman 6.2
(7 Susanto –
15 Kiswanto 6.4
17 Rangkuti 6.5
18 Hamdani 6.0