19 Aug 2004(Thu)

This time last week, football was the focus of the Olympic Games.

That's probably because it was the only sport in town--in several towns, in fact--as it kicked off two days before the opening ceremony on August 13.

But now?

The game seems a million miles away, not just 300 kilometers up the road in Volos, as more traditional Olympic sports grab the headlines, such as swimming and doping.

The Olympic schedule permitted me to attend both the Japan-Sweden women's game last Wednesday at Volos, and the men's game against Paraguay at Thessaloniki the following day.

Now they seem like ancient history, which is quite appropriate in this ancient capital of civilization.

Since then, the women went down 1-0 to Nigeria and the men lost 3-2 to Italy.

I didn't see any of the women's game on television--I was at the judo, watching Yawara-chan and Nomura win gold--but the main thing is that they qualified for the quarterfinals.

As for the men, the Italy match clashed with Kosuke Kitajima's gold medal in the men's 100-meter breaststroke, and when I returned to the office everyone was watching the football on TV. Japan were losing 3-1, and the match looked flat until Takamatsu scored his diving header and there was a brief fracas as the Italian goalkeeper kept hold of the ball to prevent a quick restart.

Olympic spirit? Fair play? Hey, this is football, the men's game at least, so why should they change their bad habits just for the Olympics?

I have spoken to a few Japanese journalists who attended the Italy game, and there was general surprise that Yamamoto-kantoku had started with a four-man defense, three volantes and three forwards.

And still there was no place for Ishikawa on the right wing or for the dynamic, dangerous Tanaka up front.

Since the euphoria of the Olympic qualifying tournament, there is no doubt the team has gone backwards, and the coach must be wondering where it all went wrong.

There has been little shape to the team, little motivation and even less confidence. In short, they were unrecognizable from the team that plays at home in front of 50,000 blue-shirted fans.

Now there is only pride to play for against Ghana at Volos on Wednesday night, and Yamamoto must lift his team, if nothing else for the fans who have paid so much money and traveled so far to watch this big anti-climax.

But I won't be there. Kitajima can complete his breaststroke double on the same evening, so football must take a back seat.

Well, just once every four years.

ends