My picks, their picks

Managers of Australia, Japan, and Korea have picked their 30…23 actually in Japan’s and Korea’s cases…men bound to Brazil. Wow, 23…that’s bit of a rush, isn’t it? It’s good they want to finish a project a month before the deadline so they can concentrate on other things, but yeah, it feels more like being hasty than being so sure and efficient.

So, let’s compare my picks and theirs.

Australia

Goalkeepers

Ange (not Angie)’s picks: Ryan, Langerak, Galekovic (Adelaide), Birighitti (Newcastle Jets).

My picks: Ryan, Federici, Jones, Langerak

Naturally many coaches wanted to balance between players based in Europe and in domestic leagues (with the exception of Africa, in most cases). Ange did not trust English based goalkeepers at all, but among A-League keepers, he picked Galekovic rather than say, Theo from Brisbane or Ante Covic from Western Sydney, who was also a Socceroo regular. Can’t wait to see Ryan facing the world’s best attackers at the group stage.

Defenders

Ange’s picks: Good (Dundee), Davidson, Spiranovic, Wilkshire, Franjic, Wright (Preston), McGowan, Wilkinson

My picks: Wilkshire, Williams, Neill, Herd, McGowan, Smith, Spiranovic, Ognenovski, Wilkinson, Davidson

We agreed on some Asian based players. Herd apparently has “personal issues” while yeah, Smith should have been there.

Midfielders

Ange’s picks: Brillante (Newcastle Jets), Bozanic (Luzern), Bresciano (Al Gharafa), Holland, Jedinak, Milligan, Vidosic, Sarota, McKay, Troisi, Luongo (Swindon)

My picks: Cahill, Holman, Jedinak, Kruse, McKay, Oar, Milligan, Vidosic, Sarota, Holland.

Ange picked Cahill and Oar as forwards but left Kruse, while I picked Troisi as a forward (same with Franjic). I did the silly mistake of omitting Bresciano. He did have legal trouble regarding his transfer but early this year FIFA had permitted him to play for Australia again.

Forward

Ange’s picks: Cahill, Kennedy, Leckie, Oar, Rogic (Melbourne Victory), Halloran (Fortuna), Taggart (Newcastle Jets)

My picks: Leckie, McDonald, Taggart, Troisi, Franjic, Joel Griffiths, Williams

So he didn’t believe in McDonald, while I also regret I forgot Kennedy. Rogic is a fine choice, tho, although I’d have put him as a midfielder.

So, generally we agree that these men are the best out there for Australia. Less flashy than the Japanese, but flashy is never a word associated with Australia. Gutsy is.

 

Oh, Chris.

Japan

Goalkeepers

Al Z’s picks: Kawashima, Nishikawa, Gonda

My picks: Kawashima, Nishikawa, Gonda

Who else? Poor Hayashi.

Defenders

Al Z’s picks: Inoha (Jubilo), Konno (Gamba), Nagatomo, Morishige (Tokyo), Uchida, Yoshida, the Sakais

My picks: Uchida, the Sakais, Yoshida, Masukawa, Shoji, Yasuda, Shiotani, Hashimoto

Besides the elite four, probably four best Asian defenders worldwide, Don Al picked the old names (stars in their own rights at J. League, but with mixed results internationally) for the three subs.

Midfielders

Al Z’s picks: Yasuhito Endo (Gamba), Hasebe, Aoyama (Hiroshima), Yamaguchi (Cerezo)

My picks: Kagawa, Honda, Nagatomo, Hosogai, Kiyotake, Hasebe, Inui, Ono, Tasaka, Doi, Yasushi Endo (Kashima), Ienaga, Kakitani

This means only one thing – he chose only four holding and central midfielders and pushed everyone else as attackers. Old Al counts on four great defenders (with mediocre/poor subs) and the rest to attack, leaving opponents to rule the midfield. We know what will happen. And yeah, we thought about the different Yasu Endo.

While many girls know this Yasu

Forwards

Al Z’s picks: Honda, Okubo, Okazaki, Kagawa, Kiyotake, Kakitani, Saito (Marinos), Osako

My picks: Okazaki, Havenaar, Osako, Toyoda, Okubo, Kobayashi

The Senegal option. Even Senegal only chose 7 forwards for 2012 African Cup of Nations (and scored only three goals). Okay, so the difference is I designated Honda, Kagawa, Kiyotake and Kakitani as midfielders while he said they’re forwards. Essentially he picked four forwards. Both of us believe in Okubo and Osako, Okazaki is undisputed with his 15 goals in Bundesliga, but I still believe Havenaar, despite a mixed year (he still can’t become Vitesse’s main contributor after two seasons, keep losing behind a Brazilian), is a far better option than Saito. Still hoping to see Toyoda in Asian Cup 2015.

 

Korea

Goalkeepers

Hong’s picks: Jung Sung-ryong (Suwon), Kim Seung-gyu (Ulsan), Lee Bum-young (Busan)

My picks: Kim Yong-dae (Seoul), Kim Young-kwang (Gyeongnam), Kim Jin-hyeon (Cerezo)

Totally different. Okay, Jung has replaced Lee Woon-jae since 2010 to become Korea’s number one, and Kim Yong-dae (and the rest of FC Seoul) has been shabby this year. He certainly believes in Kim Seung-gyu better than I do, but I believe it’s unfair to overlook Jin-hyeon.

Defenders

Hong’s picks: Kim Jin-su (Albirex), Kim Young-gwon, Yoon Suk-young, Hwang Seok-ho (Hiroshima), Hong Jeong-ho, Kwak Tae-hwi, Lee Yong (Ulsan), Kim Chang-soo (Kashiwa)

My picks: Park Jo-hoo, Kwak Tae-hwi, Hong Jeong-ho, Kim Jin-kyu, Kim Young-gwon, Hong Chul, Yoon Suk-young

Err…so he went Japanese (I know, I know) with the defenders. It’s too bad Park Jo-hoo is left out (I know, his recovery is slow), we agree that Kim Young-gwon is the best Korean defender in Asia at the moment (with Kwak Tae-hwi the second), and at least there’s a defender with singular given name.

Midfielders

Hong’s picks: Ki Sung-yong, Ha Dae-sung, Han Kook-yong (Kashiwa), Park Jong-woo (R&F), Kim Bo-kyung, Lee Chung-yong, Ji Dong-won, Son Heung-min

My picks: Park Ji-sung, Koo Ja-cheol, Lee Chung-yong, Ki Sung-yong, Kim Do-heon, Kim Nam-il, Kim Bo-kyung, Ji Dong-won, Ha Dae-sung, Lee Seung-gi

We agree more than I expected. We traded roles for Koo Ja-cheol and Son Heung-min.

Forwards

Hong’s picks: Koo Ja-cheol, Lee Keun-ho, Park Chu-young, Kim Shin-wook

My picks: Lee Dong-gook, Son Heung-min, Kim Shin-wook, Kim Seung-dae, Lee Keun-ho, Park Chu-young.

LOL, he picked Chu-young and struck out Dong-gook. At least Shin-wook and Keun-ho are pretty dependable, but it’s a shame that Pohang and Jeonbuk players are again omitted. As usual.

The ballad of a jersey hunter

My love, my darling, I want you, so much

In April 2006, I bought a replica of Japan home shirt for the 2006 World Cup. The Adidas shirt was available earlier in a sports chain, some kind of Foot Locker if you will, than in Adidas official outlet. Nike also stocked South Korean away and home shirts and even shorts, although I chose to save my money. As every Japanese fan knows, the 2006 kit was a big shame (get used to it, said Italian and French fans in 2010. Maybe that’s why England stick with Umbro, haw haw).

In 2010, I was expecting for both Adidas and Nike Indonesia to stock the merchandise of my favorite teams. I didn’t live in Jakarta so when I found that the outlets supplied only kits for Brazil, France, Spain and so on, and when a national sports chain sold Puma t-shirts featuring African teams, I asked friends in Jakarta to check out Nike there. My priority was for Korea since I had registered myself as a South Korean fan (not only heartbreak of 2006, but because five English blokes had registered themselves as Japanese fans). They said the result in Jakarta was zilch.

Google yielded result of random trade forums where some dudes claimed to have that royal/deep deep blue Japanese shirt, pictured in less royal fashion – hung with a plastic coat hanger on a housing door, rather than folded neatly on table’s top. I hesitated to call them so I let it go. At the end of the day, I bought a generic blue polo with knitted fake JFA logo. It wasn’t an official polo. It is a fan polo shirt. And I struck luck – I found an official 2010 World Cup t-shirt featuring South Korea.

Hmm…sometimes I’m wondering about Korean expats. How did they get their Reds stuff? Straight from Korea? Or something from Singapore? Didn’t know since every match they stayed inside Korean restaurants rather in public bars like Western expats do.

On Easter Holiday I went to Bali and hoped to find better luck in a place populated by Western and Asian consumers. First of all, what I found was that Nike and Adidas stores in Bali focus more on selling swimming and running gears rather than football stuff. I literally fumed when I found a sports warehouse and found ADIDAS’ MEXICO AND PARAGUAY HOME SHIRTS. WTF, I yelled. Anyway, since it’s the time for Euro 2012, so Adidas stocks kits for second rate European teams like um, Scotland (have to appreciate their sympathy for Japan), Denmark (Japan beat ’em 3-1. That’s second rate stuff), and hosts Ukraine. I did found a large mug with a picture of a football wearing hanbok, with texts “South Korea” under it and “Chukbae!” on the other side. A leftover of summer 2010.

Now I’m comfortable with online purchase of PC games, I thought it comes to this – look for online sellers of Japan and South Korea kits. And maybe Singapore and HK and everything. Even twice in Singapore I refrained from buying their merchandises – and when both teams’ shirts were not available, I thought it was because it was already out of stock (on second thought, I went to Singapore months BEFORE AND AFTER the Asian Cup 11. Shouldn’t they were still on stock along with Australian shirts I used to hate?)

And yes, I’m a little bit late. Most online stores, usually based in the UK, say that Japan 2010-11 home are out of stock, and only XL size is left for the nice white away shirt. Based on experience, you should wear only fitting clothes, not clothes that, in a word of a teenage girl, makes you look like a dumpling. Right, what about t-shirts? Many stores sell $20 shirts which is nothing more than plain white t-shirt printed with flag and name of a country. That’s why every imaginable nation, including East Timor and Afghanistan, are in stock. There are indeed not many alternative merchandises for Japan and South Korea – I was looking for more fashionable stuff like hoodie, cap, jacket etc. A sport jersey has many drags – you don’t wear it for first dates and in Western countries, it’s forbidden in many pubs. It’s a very expensive item which is less usable than a t-shirt. So I guess people wear it to stadium, in the mall, when playing football on the park…and what else?

I settled for an home t-shirt with “Okazaki 9” on the backside. Dude scored the goal against Denmark and hattrick against Saudi in the Asian Cup. I couldn’t make credit card purchase so I signed up with PayPal. And had to wait for a couple of days before they verified my credit card account. I ordered that Okazaki jersey, and then came the reply – turned out it was out of stock. My money was refunded and as sign of apology, I got free airmail coupon for my next purchase. So I bought that away white shirt, which was only available in XL. Maybe I could treat it like an ice hockey shirt or something. But then, same – it’s out of stock.

What now? Buying that ugly 12-13 pajama shirt (which I will if they do great in Road to Brazil 14 and the Olympics), or settling for t-shirts? Even on my further quest, I was almost scammed by a Chinese website claiming to have 2010-11 Japan home shirt for $60, which fortunately had a very questionable checkout page.  Finally I went to a United States shop and bought Adidas’ Korea t-shirt for $5 (I know, KFA uses Nike, but as the official kit supplier of FIFA World Cup, Adidas is entitled to produce other merchandises) and a plain blue t-shirt printed with text and image “Japan – 2011 Champions”. It’s a plain blue shirt, but since maybe Adidas and JFA don’t sell something outside Japan to celebrate the Asian Champions and the Women World Cup champions, I have to appreciate some guys in Alabama for doing so.

The shipping and duties etc. cost more than the goods, but it’s still under $100 for two items. After waiting for about ten days, I got the shirts yesterday. Which I could wear to many places in pride.