Tuesday, July 7, 2015

コテンパンだった女子のFIFA2015 - Women's Final

実力差がそのまま出た決勝でしたね。なでしこは今の力量でよくぞファイナルまで残ったと思うので、選手たちの献身的な努力には拍手です。但しずっと気になっていた問題点は書き留めておくべきでしょう。

◎戦術面
4年前は相手を翻弄するようなテンポの良いパスサッカーが出来ていたが、各国のなでしこ対策が進み、プレスは厳しく、取り囲まれるシーンも多く、佐々木監督はその活路をロングパスに求めたようだが、むしろプレスを跳ね返すドリブルなど基本の底上げをしないで安易に逃げの手として選んだように見える。攻める意識が徹底されないままフォワードの位置やスペースに関係なく蹴り出したボールはほとんどが相手に取られ、戦術としては未熟に足を引っ張るばかりの選択に終わった。

◎身体能力
アメリカ戦に限らず、体力面で弱さを感じたのは、特に瞬発性だ。それは球に走り寄るスピードだったり攻めに入った時の加速度だったり、置き去りにされる場面が多かった。日本のボール回しや攻撃には緩急がなく、全体的に緩慢な印象で相手の餌食になりやすい。フィジカル面でのこの力の差はトラックの短距離競技で見せつけられる差と同じような感じなので、埋めるには時間がかかる課題だ。上述の戦術面との連動を考えること。

◎マスコミ
ろくに敵の戦力分析もせず楽観的に優勝期待を煽った新聞を見ていると、80年前翼賛的に太平洋戦争を後押しした無頓着なメディアと何も変わっていないじゃないかと少し暗澹たる気分になった。水を差すことが言いにくいメディアの空気は政治もスポーツも同じなのか。もう少しシニカルでも現実的なコメントがあっても良いと思う。

Triangle shot of legendary Sawa, Solo and Wambach

Everybody admits US was far superior. "Nadeshiko" Japan wasn't great this time as long as the overall team power was concerned, and thus their stepping up to the final was miraculous. I must praise the girls for their incessant efforts in this regard. At the same time, one must note the apparent deficiencies for the record:

1. Strategy
They did beautiful pass plays 4 years ago, but the Champion was carefully examined in detail by competing countries that focused on pressuring not only by one but plural players. Coach Sasaki's counter tactics was long passes that appeared as an easy "avoidance" instead of "confront and overcome" the pressure with more dribbles or more speed in passes. Without the strong spirit of offense, long passes tend to fall in the opponent's foot to make our strategy quite premature.

2. Physical Ability
The fundamental weakness was visible not only in the final but also in many other games. I think it is the instantaneous power such as the speed to reach the ball or the acceleration upon switching to the offense in the run. Nadeshiko's ball handling did not have much "gear changes" and tended to be slow constantly. This kind of physical level difference is familiar in the short tracks, and it requires awful amount of time to improve.

3. Media
The day before the final, most newspapers in Japan put up their optimistic view for winning without much argument about the ability and the strategy of American team. This was pretty depressing to me as it reminded me of the media behavior some 80 years ago before the war started. They simply believed in the government without any firm reason. I know they don't want to look like a pessimist, but I think they should pay attention to more cynical but realistic observations and opinions.


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