Taiwan’s coaches might have to juggle the lineup and improve the tactics for tomorrow’s international friendly against Japan after the hosts were unable to find the net, falling to the visitors 2-0 at the Taipei Municipal Stadium on Monday.
Taiwan coach Satoshi Imai experimented with an unorthodox 4-6-0 formation on Monday, in which both sides fielded college-level players who are eligible for next year’s Universiade in Taipei.
However, Imai’s tactic of packing six midfielders in the center of the pitch in a bid to win possession and push attacks from deep failed to create the intended result.
Photo: Lin Cheng-king, Taipei Times
In that first game of the Taiwan-Japan friendly series, co-organized with the Japan University Football Association, Japan captain Takuya Shigehiro opened the account with a long-range effort in the 38th minute.
Taiwan almost got an equalizer three minutes from the break, when midfielder Chen Chia-chun fed a cross to Lo Chih-hsien in the box, but Lo headed the ball just wide of the post.
Japan grabbed their second goal in the 63rd minute, with Yasuto Wakizaka finding the net through a deflected shot, and from there the visitors coasted to victory.
Some fans and critics were not impressed with Imai’s overly defensive approach, saying the 4-6-0 formation was too conservative and was playing “not to lose.”
The outcome speaks for itself, as better-organized Japan broke down Taiwan’s midfield and defensive walls to launch attacks.
They said that Imai — the Japanese head coach, in his second stint at the helm of Taiwan’s national team — should employ more offensive tactics to have better opportunities to score goals.
They should be “playing to win,” rather than putting on a Taiwanese version of “parking the bus,” as some British teams do when confronted with superior attacking opponents, they said.
“We fielded the 4-6-0 formation because our Taiwanese players are not as skilled nor experienced inone-on-one defense against other players,” Imai said after the game. “So the idea was to pack the midfield and strengthen our defense by taking on opponents in two-on-one situations.”
“It was a shame that we did not score for our fans,” he said. “We will make adjustments for Thursday’s match and will employ a more attacking style to get some goals.”
Japan head coach Junichi Miyazaki said he was impressed with Taiwan, but added that his own team had underperformed.
“Overall, our team had several good opportunities and did not capitalize on them,” Miyazaki said. “I thought we should have had a few more goals.”
Officials said that tomorrow’s game is to kick off at 7pm, with tickets of NT$300 per adult and NT$150 for children.
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