South Asian Business news and information

Just few hours are left of the start of 14^th Asian Cup 2007. Teams are busy with their last minute preparation and working out their problems. Japan is no doubt one of the most favorites in the tournament to lift the cup although Australia will try to make their maiden Asian Cup appearance successful by winning the cup. Well, it is not only that Japan is the defending champion in the tournament but also it is their ability to do well in this level of football. Japan won the last two consecutive Asian Cup tournaments and this would be their third consecutive Asian Cup success if they can win.

Coach Ivica Osim has recently talked about his planning ahead of the Asian Cup 2007. The Bosnian thinks that Japan should not follow others. Rather, they should have the typically Japanese Mentality. Adding the term “Japanify”, Osim said he wanted to see a truly Japanese team with Japanese mentality and skill.

Asahi.Com reported:

"Trying to imitate what others do is a mistake and it leads to a loss of personality," the 66-year-old Bosnian recently told reporters in Tokyo. "What we're trying to do is essentially 'Japanify' the team. In the past the tendency was to always imitate. I think we have to find a way of having a Japanese team that is made in Japan."

"The strategy when playing against taller teams is simple: We need players with other qualities aside from height such as aggressiveness and mobility, players who are constantly on the move on the pitch," Osim said. "We already have some athletic players on the team, including (Yuji) Nakazawa and (Seiichiro) Maki. They are tall. We are not playing basketball for God's sake, we don't need to find players that are 190 centimeters or taller."

Ivica Osim is also displeased with the local clubs for whom he could not get the players in the right time because Japanese League is now going on.

I also agree that a team should have their own style and passion for the game. However, it does not mean that imitating is always bad for a team. Moreover, I also do not like the approach of having less practice before such an important tournament.