While Japan was battling to reach the Round of 16 during the recent World Cup, one man was closely watching over the cohost's performance as a coach -- and in some ways like a father.

Dettmer Cramer of Germany, who used to train the Japanese national team as a special coach in the 1960s, helped Japan become a quarterfinalist in the 1964 Olympics and the bronze-medal winner in the '68 Games.

Cramer has been known as the "Father of Japanese soccer" for his contributions to the local game even after returning to Germany. He then coached German League teams, such as Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. He also looked after the South Korean Olympic team in 1991-92.

Cramer, 77, attended the recent World Cup as a FIFA coach and spoke about Japan's national team, runnerup Germany and the World Cup overall to The Japan Times at the end of the tournament.

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What was your impression of the Japanese team's performance?

"It was no surprise and I'm quite impressed with the quality of football that they played.

"Japanese players are naturally fast, especially in the first 15-30 meters of sprints. This was my impression of the Japanese players in the 1960s and it was also seen in 2002. It's a gift to the Japanese. The Olympic team in 1968 had speed but didn't have the skills.

"Today, their speed and skills are of a very high standard. The team was been quite impressive in all of its three group matches -- Belgium, Russia and Tunisia. But there was one problem.

"They play well in the second half but in the first half, they are too careful and do not apply enough pressure, enough concentration and enough power. This is the reason they lost to Turkey.

"In the first half, they are always careful and put less pressure on their opponents. This is, in modern football, a big risk. You must play your own game from the very beginning and not care much about the opponent.

"Against Belgium, the second half was far better than the first half. Against Russia, the second half was very much at an international level. It was top level. It was the best I've ever seen from any Japanese team and it was an example of how to play Japanese soccer in the Japanese style. The second half against Tunisia was also much better than the first.

"Playing Turkey, they had to play from the beginning as well as they played in the second half against Russia. But they didn't do it. They started very carefully and during that period they gave up the goal.

"Even the goal resulted from a lack of concentration. The scorer, (Umit) Davala, was alone! The Japanese players were more than one meter away from him and nobody pressured him.

"In soccer, everybody can make a mistake because you are human -- you're not God. Everybody on the field, the referee included, makes mistakes. But we should not be making the same mistake twice. Japan's first halves were just mediocre. This is a mistake and it repeated that for four games.

"If Russia had played with more pressure, they could have also scored the first goal. If Russia had scored the first goal, the game would've been finished. But Japan won the game because they scored the first goal.

"Turkey scored first and then the bad luck came. Alex (Alessandro Santos) hit the post. There was still a chance to win the match there. That was bad luck.

"Japan had bad luck against Turkey but they also made the mistake of starting the game too carefully and letting the Turks score first. Turkey had not been in the World Cup since 1954. So they had to have been afraid of facing Japan. But after their first goal, they gained confidence. They played a good match against Brazil. Tactically, they played a good match. Because they had beaten Japan, they gained confidence."

Are you satisfied with Japan's achievement?

"I'm very, very satisfied with Japan's first round. They got seven points. Nobody had expected that. They could've had nine points if the referee hadn't disallowed Junichi Inamoto's goal (against Belgium). It was a clean goal and it was the ref's mistake.

"Japan is my second country. I'm happy with the Japanese team (overall). But the game against Turkey . . . I felt disappointed and I am a little bit angry. Why did they play such a tactically wrong game? Soccer is a tough game. Mistakes of this kind will punish you. If you play tactically wrong, you get punished. You must learn from that."

Why do you think the Japanese players didn't play well from the first half?

"You must praise (ex-Japan coach Philippe) Troussier because the confidence in the Japanese team is generally high. This is a result of his coaching. I didn't expect that from the team in France. The team there was shy. But here this team was not afraid at all. This is already a very positive result.

"Why can't they play well from the start? It may have something to do with their way of thinking -- don't play aggressive too early and study the other side. If they have this kind of mentality, then it's wrong. They must get rid of that. It's a problem of mental fitness. It's not a matter of physical fitness. If you can do that in the second half, why can't you do that in the first half? They must learn from their mistakes."

Troussier changed the starting team in the Turkey game. What were your impressions?

"That's another story. I refer to the old soccer saying, 'Never change a winning team.' Why did the team, which played wonderfully against Russia, need any change? We didn't need it. I was coaching the Germany team in the 1966 World Cup. We had 22 players (on the squad), compared to 23 nowdays. We used 14 players in 6 matches. In the World Cup, you mustn't look to everybody to play in games. You must find the best team.

"I cannot understand the substitutions. Inamoto in the Belgium game was clearly better in the second half than the first half. He also scored in the second half against Belgium and Russia. So, why did he have to be taken off against Tunisia? Why against Turkey did he bring on (Daisuke) Ichikawa? If you look at these two players, Inamoto is a better player with more international experience. He didn't play for Arsenal but he practiced with world-class players every day.

"Then take Ichikawa off to bring on (Hiroaki) Morishima (with four minutes left)? How can you win the game in five minutes? Only by good luck. But naturally, and realistically, they had no chance -- 99 percent no chance.

"But the idea to bring Morishima on was good. With him on the pitch, Turkey had to revert to defending. But you must bring him on for at least 20-30 minutes. Substitution is a weapon. If you use it right, you will win. If you use it wrong, you will lose."

Your country, Germany, made the final after all its struggles. What do you think was the reason for the problems and how did they overcame that?

"They had only two weeks to prepare because players from club teams had to play in the European Cup. Then they had injuries to Jens Nowotny, Mehmet Scholl and Marko Rehmer. They had no confidence and no trust (from the people) back home. Even after their first win against Saudi Arabia, 8-0, all of the newspapers were still against them.

"But I was sure that if the team got through the first round, it would get better with each match. In the game against the United States, the result was fine but it was a poorly played game. There was a gap between the result and the quality of the game.

"We reached the final, which was a big success, for the first time since 1990 when we became champions. Now Germany have the foundation to build a strong team for the World Cup in 2006.

'This also helped win the support of the government. We needed the money to build new stadiums."

What do you think about German coach Rudi Voeller?

"He still is half player and half coach. This is the right situation for him. He has two World Cups under his belt -- in 1986 we lost to Argentina in the final, but he scored goals. In 1990, we won the World Cup. So, he has the respect of every player.

"Voeller has the ability to influence people. That's his talent. He did so at Bayer Leverkusen and when he stopped playing, he became technical director. Beckenbauer begged him to become the national team manager.

"He has a good sense of humor and makes people laugh. A laugh can generate power. People love him. They do not want to disappoint him. As he's doing everything he can for them, they feel they have to pay him back. It was a good choice (to appoint him as national team coach). He's like sunshine in the morning. Now he's Germany's hero and he has a contract through 2006."

Have you seen any new tactical development in general in this World Cup?

"No major development. You may say this Brazilian is not as good as team as the team in 1970. The team in 1970 was the best Brazilian team and it was the last World Cup for Pele. He was a completely matured man, all the players were happy as he was playing for the Brazilian team. Then Brazil was a team. Today, they have great individuals, especially with the three Rs -- Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. They've got all the freedom to show their greatness. Therefore the team is dangerous. As a unit, their defense is not so strong but great individual players make the team dangerous."

Why do you think that big teams like France and Argentina went out of the tournament so soon?

"In Europe, top players play much too many games. They have to play league games, league cup and European cups and national team players have to play international games. So in about 10 months, they have to play 80 matches, that means they play three matches a week mostly.

"In every match, you may pick up minor injuries, but you have no time to recover from these injuries. I think (David) Beckham suffered his injury as a result of exhaustion. (Zinedine) Zidane and (Luis) Figo had muscle injuries from being overplayed. FIFA, especially regarding European clubs, must reach a compromise and cut down the number of matches."

How was the standard of play during this World Cup?

"The World Cup is a kind of world exhibition that shows the development and trends in soccer every four years. But in this World Cup, the level was lower than that of four years ago on average. This is because the European players were exhausted. There's no doubt about that. Beckham's injury may have been caused by exhaustion.

"I was so happy during the four weeks with this World Cup. Europe has waited for mistakes. People in Europe are jealous because the World Cup has gone to Asia. But we had fine organization in Japan and Korea and we created a wonderful atmosphere like a festival."