Match date: 19 June 2013

This was truly an amazing match to watch; the joy of football. It may have not been the most tactically disciplined or best refereed match to ever take place, but it was a joy to watch and there could have been even more goals in it.

With that said, it was an interesting match from an Italian perspective as it was neither a classic Italian display of defending well and countering nor was it a display similar to what Cesare Prandelli has had Italy produce since he took over.

Prandelli made two changes to the team that beat Mexico 2-1, both of them on the right side with Alberto Aquilani coming in for Claudio Marchisio and Christian Maggio coming in Ignazio Abate. Within minutes of the match opening, it was Italy’s right side that caused them defensive problems.

Aquilani, Maggio v Kagawa, Nagatomo

As mentioned just above, Prandelli changed the right side of his starting XI, bringing in Aquilani and Maggio. Throughout his career, Aquilani has played as a central midfielder, so his instinct, despite being deployed on the right side of Italy’s already narrow midfield, was to come inside. Right from the start, though, this was very problematic for Italy on the defensive side of the ball as Aquilani was very narrow and was slow to track back and it allowed Kagawa to become isolated with Maggio, who is a great attacking wing back, but isn’t at his best when defending.

Above, you see how narrow Aquilani is, despite both Kagawa and Nagatomo on the left side of Japan’s attack. Maggio’s responsibility was to track Kagawa, which he failed to do sometimes, coming in too narrow, allowing Kagawa even more room on the outside. Even when Maggio went out to deal with Kagawa, he usually found himself 1v2 as Nagatomo came forward, which was often. Aquilani’s slow tracking allowed the Japanese back to overlap Kagawa with ease. Below you’ll see a ball played from Konno into Kagawa’s feet, who plays a one time ball to Nagatomo who is overlapping with Aquilani too far behind to catch up, with Maggio having to leave Kagawa to cover for his teammate.

Kagawa and Honda

Kagawa started wide of the left and had a good amount of success against Maggio, but he was also keen to come inside to give the team more options as he was clearly their go to playmaker. Honda was playing behind the striker, but had a good understanding with Kagawa. When Kagawa came across the middle or when there was an opportunity to overload the Italian defense on the left side of Japan’s attack, Honda would come across and look to either fill the space or combine with Kagawa.

The two Japanese playmakers, both who attempted more passes than Pirlo, looked to combine with one-twos outside of the the Italian box and their quick combinations caught Italy out at times and forced both Chiellini and Barzagli to make some last ditch interceptions and tackles.

Italian Changes

Japan dominated the first half, despite conceding from a corner kick late on in the half. A good amount of their ability to control the game was the freedom that they had through the poor defending of Aquilani and Maggio on the right side of Italy’s defense. Prandelli spotted it and looked to remedy it quickly, taking Aquilani off just 30 minutes into the match and bringing on Giovinco, who added a bit more energy when defending and pressing.

At his introduction, Giovinco played int the role that Aquilani had been playing, but after half time, Prandelli pushed the playmaker into the middle, behind Balotelli, and brought Giaccherini out to the right side which certainly gave the Italians a bit more creativity through the middle. Prandelli then brought on Abate and the combination of Giaccherini, later Marchisio, and Abate were better in keeping Kagawa and Nagatomo in check.

Putting Giovinco through the middle paid off in the end as well as he grabbed the winning goal for Italy through an assist by Marchisio.

Conclusion

Japan played the better football throughout the match. They pressed in the midfield better than Italy did and were able to play quick combinations to get away from Italy’s pressing when the Azzurri did so. Japan dictated the tempo for majority of the match and, based on sole on the idea of playing good football, Japan will count themselves a bit unfortunate to come away with a loss, especially as they hit the post 3 times.

Italy has been largely proactive since Prandelli took over, but Japan were able to take the game to the, forcing Italy to look uncomfortable in defense, something that is an oddity for Italy. Prandelli’s changes were all reactive and even then, had trouble getting the best out of his side as Japan were able to control the middle of the field and not allow the likes of Pirlo to get on the ball, with the Italian midfielder attempting just 44 passes.

Italy sat back far too much once they got the lead at 3-2, and conceded from a good corner by Endo to Okazaki, but at 3-3, Japan were too willing to get forward despite a draw being enough to keep their ability to advance still possible. As they pushed forward looking for the fourth, Italy were able to get the winner.