Nationality

Watched Mexico vs Japan the other day at the Mexican restaurant.
I haven't seen Japan play for about two years now.
They played very well, I think.
But there were obvious lack of one-on-one skills compared to the Mexican players.

And this "theme" that many football nations have.
The "style" that they play.
Like the Dutch soccer, the passing game of Mexico, the hardworking Irish game...
Like the "style" of game that you grew up playing.
The "style" everyone knows how to play if you're from that country.
I've never seen that in the Japanese team.

Maybe it's that we're still a young soccer nation.
It just takes time for it to find its root and start growing.

I see patterns though.
We have ok midfielders.
We pass well.
But we tend to rush things too much.
Like none of us don't want to be responsible for losing the ball.
We don't have that confidence.

Like our forwards in the game against Greece...
Just panic so easily.
And yes, I too, panic easily.
I guess it's just part of being a Japanese.

Anyways, I kind of had this feeling like the Mexican way of playing fitted my image of play very easily.
It's probably because I learned to play soccer by playing with the Mexican people.
But I think Japan and Mexico has some parallels.
But I don't want to generalize things too much.