HANOI — It was great to hear Yuji Nakazawa say he gave Mark Viduka a taste of his own medicine during Japan's Asian Cup quarterfinal victory over Australia on Saturday.
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Viduka, who led Nakazawa and the Japan defense a merry dance in Australia's 3-1 win at last year's World Cup, tried to intimidate the central defender this time around, but the Yokohama F. Marinos player gave as good as he got.
"I've got a few bruises," Nakazawa told reporters. "There was some kicking going on from him — and from me. He's a big man but I wasn't backing down. He said some nasty stuff to me during the game, but I'm not telling you what. You'll have to ask him."
Nakazawa had the last laugh, though, as Viduka trundled off a spent force just after the hour mark. The attentions of Nakazawa and fellow center-back Yuki Abe had proved too much for the lumbering Newcastle United forward.
"He's a big man and the conditions got hold of him," said Aussie coach Graham Arnold. "It was just fatigue."
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Viduka's replacement Harry Kewell may have had a fan club at the stadium, with his every touch producing shrieks of delight from the locals — many Vietnamese support his club Liverpool — but the general impression the player gave throughout the tournament was of someone who just didn't give a fig about being here.
Arnold dropped the player after the first two games and that was after the coach came out after the 3-1 defeat to Iraq and said that certain players weren't up for it.
I wonder which player he was talking about.
Kewell may have made all the right noises to reporters when singling out his own poor form but he did little to suggest he had any intention of remedying it.
I'll leave the last word to an ex-pat Aussie who leaned over to our table as I ate dinner with a fellow reporter after Saturday evening's game:
"The problem with Kewell is he's got no ticker."
And Ivica Osim thought he had heart problems!
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Nakazawa perhaps had more reason than others to celebrate Japan's 4-3 shootout win.
First, he overcame the stomach-churning tension to score the decisive penalty, banishing memories of a missed spot-kick in Japan's shootout victory over Jordan in the Asian Cup quarterfinals in China. Second, he did it against the Australians, avenging the defeat in the World Cup game in which he played.
"I missed in 2004 but was fine and able to keep my cool this time. I didn't feel any pressure. The keeper guessed right last time in 2004 so I decided to just whack the ball as hard as I could. I thought if I did that the goalkeeper wouldn't have been able to stop it even if he had read it," said Nakazawa.
"I can't speak for all the players but there were a lot of emotions for me because it was Australia. Obviously luck comes into play when it's a penalty shootout but we are delighted."
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NOTE TO NAOHIRO TAKAHARA: Practice your penalties before the next match. Takahara ballooned his spot-kick after Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi had put Japan firmly in the driver's seat in the shootout with two saves. At the end of training on Friday evening, Takahara shanked a carbon-copy penalty over the bar. He then wandered off while the others took their turn, waving away one of the coaching staff when he was told to have another go.
Takahara, of course, equalized for Japan on 72 minutes for his fourth goal of the tournament — top scorer as of Sunday afternoon — after John Aloisi had put the Aussies ahead three minutes earlier.
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JUST A THOUGHT: Yes, the Japanese won and, yes, they played extremely well, but there is still the nagging fact that Japan should have easily killed off the Australians before the shootout, especially after the Socceroos were reduced to 10 men.
Nakazawa admitted as much and warned there is still work to do ahead of the semifinal: "We have to reflect on why we weren't able to break down Australia after they had a man sent off and we also need to work on avoiding conceding goals from set pieces. We may have beaten Australia but if we lose our next game it will mean nothing," he said.
Osim may have to shoulder some of the blame for Japan's inability to put Australia to the sword. After Vincenzo Grella's sending off on 75 minutes — his flailing arm that caught Takahara in the kisser earning him a straight red — the Bosnian coach, with a full quota of substitutes at hand, had the option to hit the Aussies with all he had.
Instead, he chose to do nothing. The first change, when it came on 88 minutes, was uninspiring: Yasuyuki Konno for Akira Kaji. Forward Hisato Sato came on for Seiichiro Maki near the end of the first period of extra time, while striker Kisho Yano came on far too late to have any sort of effect.
I don't want to take anything away from the performance because Japan utterly dominated, but after the sending off the coach played it a little too cool for my liking.
This time Osim got away with it.
Spare a thought for Aussie coach Arnold. He's been a dead man walking throughout this tournament, with rumors flying around about him being replaced by Dutch coach Dick Advocaat no matter what the Aussies achieved.
The former Sanfrecce Hiroshima player has acted with a lot of dignity as the Football Federation of Australia ferreted around looking for his successor. But Arnold's barbed comments about the problems that lay ahead now that the Socceroos are in the Asian pool for World Cup qualification suggests he'll be glad to go.
HE SAID: "The road ahead is difficult. Can you imagine coming here (to Vietnam) three days before a World Cup qualifier? Good luck."
I don't think he meant those last two words.