SPORT
Osim tries to heal Japan's wounded pride

TOKYO — Japan's previous two national soccer team coaches both won the Asian Cup. They had to, as their jobs were on the line. Going into the 2007 Asian Cup, current coach Ivica Osim doesn't have quite the same amount of pressure — his team is hardly setting the world on fire, but it's ticking over moderately well — but that won't stop Japan's soccer fans and media from expecting great things, like a third successive title. Are they asking too much?

Well, on the basis of what happened in the Zico era, the Japanese should really have no expectations at all. Zico took over from Philippe Troussier following the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup, and set about dismantling all the teamwork, discipline and focus Troussier had achieved. Zico figured that if he put 11 talented players on the pitch, they'd figure out what to do.

Defender Yuji Nakazawa admitted before the 2006 World Cup that Zico had not once given him advice on how to play. Luckily for Zico, Nakazawa figured it out by himself and was the star of the team that won the 2004 Asian Cup in China. For a brief moment — well, three weeks — Zico's team showed focus and determination. But no thanks to the coach. The Chinese fans, people, government and media had all ganged up against Japan, and its soccer team performed heroically to secure the title.

Osim says that Zico did an excellent job, but the expectations created by an unrealistic media were so high going into the 2006 World Cup, that disappointment was the logical outcome. But while maintaining that Zico was a good coach, he hardly paints a rosy picture of the devastation left by the Brazilian.

"A lot of players wanted out of the national team after the World Cup," Osim said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan last month. "They were in a state of despair. I had to convince them that there is a life after the World Cup, and I have managed to include players in my Asian Cup squad who were in Germany. That's very important because they have the experience."

And this experience may prove important, because Osim has tried so many new players. In fact, he seems to have almost a completely different squad for every game; it's hard to see a pattern. And it's hard to see how on Earth he picked some of the players. But you have to believe there is method in his madness. Osim's coaching pedigree is of the highest order, and he transformed the rag-tag mob known as JEF United into a real team, playing the beautiful game as it was meant to be played.

When Zico and Troussier were under the greatest pressure — at roughly the same period in their tenures — this pressure came as a result of great expectations and some outrageously dumb media coverage. Last year's World Cup letdown was traumatic for Japanese soccer, and the veteran hand of Osim — who guided Yugoslavia to the quarter finals of the 1990 World Cup — was seen as the only steady one in town.

Japan does not need to win the Asian Cup to prove its credibility, but it needs to emerge from the tournament as a team. Osim's honeymoon period is about over, and the fans in Japan want to see a solid lineup in Southeast Asia. The coach hinted as much last month when he said, "What is important now is to build the cohesion of the team; that is what matters."

If he can do that, Osim's star could eventually outshine that of his predecessors. Failure to do so will see the grim reapers of the Japanese media out for blood once again.