rowan wrote:1. "Hasebe is in his mid-thirties" - and still apparently has enough gas in the tank to appear in 24 of 34 2017/18 Bundesliga fixtures, playing the full 90 in all but 2 of those appearances. His 10 missed games were due to - a niggly knee injury which put him out of 3 non-consecutive fixtures, the flu that put him out of 3 fixtures, a 21-day red card suspension at the end of the season, and just one game where he was an unused sub on the bench against Bayer Leverkusen.
Wow, sounds like a model excellent health and youthful vigor
Do you always shoot yourself in the foot in arguments?
Did you actually read what I wrote? He hasn't been injured in a year, and aside from a bout of flu or a red card suspension (which has nothing to do with age), he has not missed a single fixture for his club this year, and has played the full 90 in all but one, where he got red carded on the 79th minute. Yeah, actually that sounds like he's got plenty of gas in his tank.
rowan wrote:3. It's quite curious that you're refusing to even consider the possibility that they'd adapt and count on the result of the other game holding for the remaining 10 minutes or so of the fixture - which you're strawmanning as "gambled on the result from the outset," which no one has stated other than you.
I believe I made the first observation myself before you came along and started fighting with your phantoms about it. I'm actually the one pointing out the absurdity of gambling on a result (from the outset) in such perilous circumstances. Japan simply couldn't break down the Polish defense & pretty much gave up on doing so late in the game, so the situation was more about hoping than gambling. Again, you seem to be fighting with your own phantoms on this one. & you certainly used the word gambling earlier on.
Here we go again - the Colombia result wasn't gambled on from the outset. Nishino counted on the 1-0 scoreline holding
after 80-odd minutes of play. How you interpret that as "gambled on a result from the outset" is anyone's guess, but it certainly does shed some light on why you
were an allegedly published journalist, but no longer. And you do realise one of the definitions of "gamble" is to take a risky action in hope of a desirable outcome, right? Go on and google it. I'll wait.
rowan wrote:You also claimed they had rested players and selected a second string side for the match. &, for the umpteenth time, that is all I am disagreeing with. If the Japanese are claiming that after they dodged a bullet and went through in second place despite a loss that surprised most of us, they are either bluffing or just very, very silly. You wouldn't catch the likes of Uruguay doing anything so arrogant or stupid, and that's one reason why they'll be in the quarters and Japan almost certainly won't. Japan are not in the same class and should stop pretending to be with such implausible rock star comments. Disagree if you will, but that's all I'm saying.
You can take issue with Nishino's selections for the game all you want, the team list is quite clear - key players were benched. You can claim otherwise all you want, your opinion will not override what is plain to see. Do you even know who the preferred Japanese players are, since you're apparently quite the expert?
