27 Jul 2003(Sun)

Although Japan's Olympic team was outplayed by South Korea in the 1-1 draw at Tokyo National Stadium on Wednesday night, I am still confident Masakuni Yamamoto's young men will qualify for Athens.

This is because Yamamoto has built a solid structure, and this will be very important next March when the final Asian qualifying round takes place.

Sitting high up in the stands at National Stadium, I must admit I thought it was the Korean basketball team that walked out for the kickoff.

They were much taller than their Japanese rivals, suggesting that Japan's defense could come under an aerial bombardment.

But the Koreans quickly showed that they could play skillful, attacking football on the ground, too.

The visitors had enough chances to win the match in the second half, so it was all credit to Japan's fighting spirit for hanging on for a draw.

Yamamoto's players are learning all the time, and I am sure Takeshi Aoki will be wiser for the experience of Wednesday.

It was Aoki's lazy pass that went straight to Choi Tae Uk that led to Korea's opening goal, but the Korean forward still had a lot to do after receiving the ball just inside the Japanese half. His right-foot shot was a sizzler, which fizzed through the air and into the net, but goalkeeper Kawashima will feel he should have parried it.

I don't know what Aoki was trying to do, as there didn't seem to be any Japanese player in the space to which he played the ball.

His error brought back memories of Kakuda's against Costa Rica, when the Kyoto defender passed the ball across the face of his own goal and straight into trouble.

However, I am still a firm believer in Aoki, who is an extremely talented player with lovely skills and a strong physical presence. I could see him developing into a top-class international midfielder in two or three years' time.

Japan's Olympic team has good shape, thanks to the midfield four of Ishikawa, Abe, Suzuki and Nemoto, and Yamamoto has plenty of attacking options with Okubo, Maeda, Matsui and Nakayama, the "Gamba Gon" who scored the bulk of Japan's goals at the Asian Games in Busan, Korea, last October.

Japan will be one of 12 teams challenging for three places from Asia at the Athens Olympics. The 12 teams will be drawn into three groups of four, and the winner of each group will progress to Greece.

So Japan will be up against some talented young players from around the continent next March, and by that time Yamamoto's players must have learned to cut out the careless individual mistakes. Even at this level of international football, these errors prove extremely costly.

To sum up, I think Yamamoto has a well-drilled team of experienced J.League players, but they cannot take it for granted that other teams will crumble against them.

They have to dominate their opponents more, as they often look like the away team when they are playing at home.

I still feel Japan can be in Athens next summer, but it is going to be close.

ends