PARIS -- Japan never got going during its friendly Saturday on a pitch that looked in awful condition, while the French mastered it well. The Japanese found it difficult to get to grips with the French. It's just amazing how smoothly they play together. They just stroked the ball around the soggy pitch and through the Japan midfield as if there was nothing there.

On top of that, you can't give the world champions a two-goal start. Both the goals were the results of errors and the French just dominated from there, adding three more goals and putting on an impressive performance.

In defense of the Japanese, it's only two games into the J. League season so maybe they were caught cold. They didn't really look ready and never really got going, and never gave themselves a chance against the best team in the world. They need to be better at winning the ball and keeping it. Here's a breakdown on each Japan player along with a performance ranking:

Seigo Narazaki -- His mistake cost Japan the second goal and he made some nervous decisions during the game, but he did manage to redeem himself slightly with a couple of very good saves. Not really a very convincing performance -- 5 out of 10.

Naoki Matsuda -- A poor decision and poor challenge led to the early penalty and first goal. Like his colleagues, he didn't stay on his feet enough and struggled throughout the game -- 4.5.

Ryuzo Morioka -- Slightly better than Matsuda but wasn't consistent enough. He committed himself (and missed) too often in the tackle, but was better on the ball than Matsuda -- 5.5.

Toshihiro Hattori -- A much more gritty performance, as expected. He had a lot of space to cover behind Nakamura and did well considering -- 6.

Shunsuke Nakamura -- He had to defend and that is not his main strength, so he also struggled. He has quality, but looked out of position and weak physically -- 5.

Tomokazu Myojin -- A poor performance -- he appeared to lack confidence and looked out of his depth against this class of opposition. Gave the ball away too easily and was always under pressure defensively -- 4.5.

Teruyoshi Ito -- More the kind of performance you'd expect. Battled hard but didn't get enough of the ball. Put in a lot of effort and was trying to make forward runs to jolt Japan out of its lethargy -- 6.

Junichi Inamoto -- The game just seemed to pass him by. It looked like he couldn't get his legs moving on the heavy pitch, so he struggled physically, and he wasn't good enough on the ball -- 5.

Hiroshi Nanami -- Had some good moments but most of them were too deep so couldn't make any inroads into French territory. He gives the impression that he's putting in more effort than he really is. Struggled against this class of opposition -- 5.

Hidetoshi Nakata -- I like what he can do and he gave Japan all its best moments, including three very good shots. The difference between Nakata and his teammates is that he looked physically able to compete and also had the technique to match the French. I think he would have looked good on the French team -- 7.

Akinori Nishizawa -- Looked like he became very tired very early. He always had too many defenders around him and got very poor service and support, so his work was just chasing the ball, and on a heavy pitch it was not real surprise he became so tired so quickly -- 4.5.

Substitutes:

Atsuhiro Miura -- Needs to impose himself on the ball more. He wasn't that much better than Nakamura, but did add a little zip to the game -- 5.5.

Naohiro Takahara -- As always, I like him, but he couldn't really do much to help Japan. Did have a few good moments with his movement and hard work, but too little, too late -- 5.

Shoji Jo -- Looked like he had nothing to offer the Japanese attack -- he was like a little boy lost out there. He must have had the wrong footwear on because he couldn't stand up. Really disappointing; I thought he had learned more about the game during his time in Spain -- 4.5.

Shigeyoshi Mochizuki -- Came on fairly late so it was difficult for him to get into the game; Japan had lost already, but he did put in some effort. I'm sure he's the kind of player who will learn from the French, who played simply and effectively -- 5.

Yuji Nakazawa, Koji Nakata -- Came on too late to register.