8 Aug 2005(Mon)

AUGUST 6, 2005 -- Whatever the final outcome of the East Asian Championship in Korea, Zico will surely have learned many lessons from Japan's performances, win, draw or lose.

First, isn't it refreshing to see so many new faces in the blue of Japan.

This is a long overdue process by Zico, who has stuck with the same bunch of players when clearly the squad has needed revamping.

Players such as Tatsuya Tanaka, Konno and Murai have at least injected some dash into Japan's play.

Whether they have sufficient time to adapt to the national team environment is another matter, and you are left wondering where these players would be if they had been picked a year ago.

Zico, however, has his own reasons to stay loyal to the back-up squad, who are now, finally, under pressure to keep their places.

He has created "Zico's Family", as one Japanese football watcher put it to me -- and he wasn't talking about Zico's brother!

These players have taken Zico through the World Cup qualifying campaign and won the Asian Cup, and if there is no one better, in his opinion, then why change things?

After all, why should Zico think about the future?

The only thing that matters to him is the present, and if Japan keep winning then why should he care about building a team for when he's gone?

He will be judged by what happens in Germany next summer, and for that job he wants experienced players.

The big question, though, is this: is Zico's judgement right?

A great player does not make a great coach, as some people are born to teach and not necessarily perform at a high level.

Hopefully, though, Zico wil continue with some of the new faces, especially in the "dead rubber" against Iran.

"Dead rubber", by the way, is a tennis term, used in the Davis Cup between national teams to describe a game that has no meaning.

Japan and Iran have both qualified for Germany, but Zico can still use this chance to reward some of the East Asian Championship recruits, notably Konno, Murai, Moniwa and Tatsuya.

ends