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World Cup: Cameroon vs. Japan (Your Running Commentary)

Cameroon logo  JapanLogo

Samuel Eto'o & Co. will try to join Ghana as African teams to secure three points as Cameroon and Japan meet at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa (10 a.m., ESPN/ESPN3.com).

The Indomitable Lions and Samurai Blue each look to keep pace with the Netherlands in Group E after the Dutch defeated Denmark 2-0 earlier in the day on a Simon Poulsen own goal and a tap-in by Dirk Kuyt.

Cameroon has been pegged by some as an African side that can make a decent run through the World Cup. Japan, meanwhile, is the longshot to advance out of this deep group, though Shunsuke Nakamura and Keisuke Honda present formidable threats in the team's midfield.

If you are watching the game, please feel free to share any thoughts, opinions and play-by-play in the comments section below. Enjoy the match!

Comments

  1. ” I try to avoid generalizing, but I have never met an African player who was A.) a team player, and B.) composed and contained on defense. ”

    You ain’t trying too hard, are you? That’s as bad a generalization as I’ve ever heard.

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  2. Ruud Gullit pretty much said the same thing. Unless they get scooped up by Euro youth clubs early in their careers its hard to develop any tactical knowledge. it’s not a knock on african football it’s just that for the most part players grow up playing on the streets with no refs, so the play is more physical and more individual. as for the ref looked pretty fair to me, late in the second half japan did seem to go down easily though.

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  3. From over here in Japan the story is that the coach finally culled a bunch of the regulars before the England game and the team has been a lot better since.

    They were forced to be pretty defensive once the player who plays in france Matsui Daisuke came off, but it was still awesome to see them win. Japan has been very uninterested this year in the world cup because they expected to be humiliated. I can’t wait until tomorrow and finally the nation will be well into it!

    Everyone is pretty nervous about facing Holland though. i worry they will give them too much respect and play the whole game like they did the second half against Cameroon.

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  4. Wow, that was an upset in my opinion. Japan has looked sooooo bad as of late, getting beat by a Serbia B team and South Korea at home, and Takeshi Okada continuing to use Keiji Tamada up front. Playing Honda as a lone striker obviously worked, probably because he’s just got good attacking instincts unlike Tamada or Okazaki. Mitsuo Ogasawara, last year’s J-League MVP, stated after he was called up for a friendly that Japan could keep possession, but do nothing with it, not even launching balls to the other side of the pitch, and that was why they couldn’t score goals. However, seeing how disorganized Cameroon was, as long as they kept possession and defended well it didn’t really matter. But let’s see how they do against Holland and Denmark because they’re really going to have to work on switching sides in order exploit space.

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  5. The official looked great to me. It is typical of African teams to foul a ton. I try to avoid generalizing, but I have never met an African player who was A.) a team player, and B.) composed and contained on defense.

    I don’t know if it is a culture thing, or what it is, but I always notice a tendency to just dribble around in circles.

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  6. poor finishing and a one-sided ref doomed cameroon. If Italy and Japan play next round that game has the potential to have set the record for most flops in a game.

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  7. cameroon is embarassing. All the hype of “home field advantage” and we probably could have no African teams in the second round depending on Ivory Coast,Ghana and South Africa to step up.

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  8. I know a lot of people were giving Japan flak for scoring two own goals against England, but they really did look good in that game. Fast, technical and just peppering the goal with shots that all looked pretty good. If they can get a result today and against Denmark, they’ll be in good shape.

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  9. this camera work is like out of The Matrix!

    that goal line shot of the keeper falling backwards, with JA and CAM player trying to avoid him? Wonderful stuff!

    Reply

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