#218 Football Theory 23 | 2000 Sydney Olympics - A 1cm Difference -

The Sydney Olympics featured Matsuda and Nakata Hidetoshi, who had experienced the previous 1996 Atlanta Games, and above all, the Golden Generation ( Inamoto / Sakai / Motoyama / Koji Nakata / Takahara), as well as the battle-hardened overage players Narazaki / Morioka / Atsuhiro Miura—a formidable lineup.

Although Ono was injured, the depth of the squad was such that talented players like Mitsuo were left out, and even Yasuhito Endo was only a backup member, making it a rock-solid setup with high expectations for a medal.

Sydney Olympics Asian Qualifiers

It was a massacre, lol. Anyway, the U-23 team at this time was insanely strong, winning with a ruthless, hellish scoreline of 66 goals for and 3 against over 12 matches, lol.

What I remember is that Kota Yoshihara (who was at Sapporo at the time!) scored so many goals that he was called up to the senior national team for the Copa America, Ono getting injured from a crappy tackle, and Yanagisawa sneaking out of the team hotel (to go see Rika) and getting removed from the squad registration, lol.

And in the final deciding match, there was the "mouth rock-paper-scissors" between Hide and Shunsuke against Kazakhstan (Hide is giving clear instructions in the thumbnail, lol).

Anyway, they qualified for the main tournament looking way too strong.

Group Stage

First Match: South Africa

The first match was against South Africa, who were in relatively good form with McCarthy and Fortune. Japan went with a 3-5-2, with Narazaki in goal, Koji Nakata, Morioka, and Nakazawa in defense. Inamoto and Myojin were the defensive midfielders, Shunsuke on the left, Sakai on the right, and Hide as the attacking midfielder. The forwards were Takahara & Yanagisawa. Back then, Nakazawa was actually higher in the pecking order than Matsuda.

They conceded early, but Takahara equalized from a Shunsuke free kick, and then, above all, Hide's beautiful through ball to Takahara! So intense!

And so, they made the best possible start by winning the first match with a comeback.

Second Match: Slovakia

Slovakia had made it through the qualifiers in the tough European region. The first half ended 0-0, and in the second half, Hide scored with a
diving header from a beautiful cross by Atsuhiro Miura on the left! It was a classic goal, reminiscent of his goal against Tunisia in 2002. The second goal came when Takahara, who was in great form, had a 1-on-1 shot saved by the keeper, and Inamoto, who had run all the way from his defensive midfield position to the front of the goal, followed up to score—a goal reminiscent of
Teru Ito
from the previous tournament! They conceded one late on, but held on for a 2-1 win, their second victory!

At this point, Brazil had also beaten South Africa, and while they were both on two wins and looking to "let sleeping dogs lie," Brazil lost to South Africa... so advancement to the knockout stage was pushed to the final matchday.

Third match: Brazil

Although this match saw Morioka and Hide suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, it felt somewhat fortunate in a way as it gave them a chance to rest... We were facing our seniors, Brazil, who were in our group just like in the previous tournament.
Ronaldinho was there in his younger days.We conceded an early goal, but from there, both sides played cautiously until the final whistle.

As for Slovakia vs. South Africa, South Africa lost, so we advanced through the group stage with two wins and one loss, finishing second on goal difference!!

Knockout Stage

Quarter-final: USA

Actually, I didn't watch this match against the USA.
I was a second-year high school student at the time, and it coincided with the first day of my school trip. Since I was being pretentious and traveling abroad, I was on a plane isolated from information... When I landed, I learned of the defeat from the first report from a friend who said,"It looks like Japan lost."

We took the lead with Yanagisawa's goal, were caught up, and took the lead again with Takahara's goal... but we conceded a penalty in the second half to tie it. The match remained deadlocked through extra time and went to a penalty shootout. The ball kicked by our fourth kicker, Hide, wasjust 1cmshort, hitting the goalpost, and the match ended 4-5.
It was a team considered the strongest, and although we were overwhelmingly on the attack,penalty shootouts are truly terrifying.

After that

I never imagined thatCameroon would win(with Mboma as an overage player).MbomaSpain took second place. The members who won the '99 World Youth Championship made a breakthrough, continuing their success.
Looking back at past Olympic tournaments, I still remember this squad as the strongest, but that's the scary thing about competition—it doesn't always go as planned.

However!
As a result, most of these members made it into the 2002 squad and caused a sensation there, so this defeat must have served as valuable experience!