Clément Delestrade comments

Makita was overused, it was his rookie season, yet they made him a starter, then a reliever and why not a closer after all ... 130+ innings was too much. The problem is that the rest of Seibu's bullpen falters too easily under pressure.

Matsunaka certainly didn't feel old when he hit a grand slam off rookie submarine pitcher Makita. Hawks veterans are great ! Ok maybe not Cabrera but Kokubo and Matsunaka had a good season. I think he was more referring to Hasegawa (who was MVP caliber against the Lions), Honda, Matsuda or Fukuda.

judges: Anek Hongtongkam 115-113 | judge: Duane Ford 115-113 | judge: Ian John-Lewis 113-116

Well done champ, these judges names really sound Japanese !

He knows nothing of playoff pressure but he was named MVP of the series against the Lions ... Uchikawa will be fine as he is a tremendous hitter.

I bet a lot of people who thrashed because of their selfishness but feel idiot. Well done !

There is no guaranty with this group. Watch how are composed the other ones and you know that is the strongest group. Uzbekistan are really good and a few teams play defense like North Korea. Nothing is given there.

It's the most difficult group with the rising nation in Asia, Uzbekistan, and North Korea who made the last WC ...

It's a photobook, what kind of skill do you expect ?

Lions's starter is named Wakui, not Ukui.

Hitting HR takes a lot of skills, otherwise every guy above 1m85 would do it. It takes a good eye, fast swing and great power. Okawari-kun has been flirting with 50 for 3 years, he's just a fantastic player and I hope he'll receive the MVP award. He's overweight but so much more than that that is not fair.

You need work permits and they are hard to obtain unless you're a national team veteran.

Calling the best HR hitter, the King, an "overwheight 3B", really... Learn to appreciate skills and achievements pawatan. The climax series are gonna be exciting, the momentum is clearly on the Giants and Lions side and they have a decent shot at knocking Nippon Ham and Yakult off.

At the end of the day, he had no cattle to work with - beating Tonga and Canada was always going to be too big an ask for the Brave Blossoms - we all knew this.

Not really, the recent records say that they should, at least, have beaten Tonga. Thank you Mr.Kirwan. Now this is not the end of everything or "a shame", he didn't win and I'm sure there's other valuable coaches who could take the job. It's just the beginning of another era.

Fighting at home where they get paid the most. US fighters fight in the US, that does not seem to bother anyone.

all Honda is good for is sweating and kicking the ball into the stands.

Oh dear ...

The Japan game wasn't garbage, any football fan know that you aren't going yo win every match 6-0, but North Korea played a complete defense game and their keeper was awesome today. In the end the more deserving team won but congrats to North Korea, even though they won't improve much if they keep playing such a negative football.

That's not that easy, he can challenge Moreno but Moreno has the final word, there are also money issues and a ton of stuff which is making bowing die nowadays. Ultimately, if he has the chance, of course he's gonna challenge Moreno at one point ... But telling behind a computer that a warrior such as Kamada doesn't have the guts is a bit too much for me. He's still young, let him develop and see if he choses to challenge the top once he's ready.

To be the champ you have to beat the champ so you're being unfair ( De la Mora had a perfect record with 22 KOs) but I guess it's part of the bashing ...

They're aren't amateurs at all ... And their demand is fair.

bicultural > "I was rooting for Japan but Mexico looked like they would score at any moment."

Mexico didn't have a single, at least a single, chance. Not at all, nothing. I think we didn't see the same game (and you should know you don't play at 3-0 as you would as 0-0, you're not pushing as hard).

You know what I read ? That japanese football has "unlimited money". What is completely not true. Anyway, if you look at Kashima's roster, Sogahata, Motoyama, Ogasawara, Nakata, Nozawa, Koroki, Osako, etc ... All started at Kashima. They were not brought by money. Anyway good luck to Melbourne, let's live a really good ACL !

Ah the myth japanese clubs are full of money ... Look at all these stars in Kashima roster ! Wait ... there aren't. Aussie medias are already crying because they know their clubs are going to be beaten early.

Carsuke did not watch the game, by the way - and knows very little about soccer.

I watched the game, don't be bitter. The equalizer came from a corner, Australia is strong on set pieces. But in fact, South Korea dominated the game.

Talk your team and nation up all you want. We have only conceded 1 GOAL in the whole tournament. Your boys : 6. Hmmm ... This has nothing to do with the fact that the most important threat coming from you is long balls. You have several tall players, you're just using your strength, nothing against that, period.

South Korea > Australia, their match ended in a draw but SK was the better team without a doubt. The only treat Australia can cause to Japan is long balls. They have some really tall players we will have to watch out.

I am so happy.

Japan won fairly. Merit has nothing to do with football. Japan put the ball in the net one time more than his opponent and that's the only thing that matters. People b*tch about Japan when they play well but fail to win, and when they win, they should have lost ?

BTW, Japan was the superior side. Even at 10 vs 11, they were better than Qatar.

Qatar did very well, in my opinion, and should have won the game. Oh dear.

plastic surgery says hi for these girls.

The EPL is the league with the worst keepers. No disrepect but that's the truth. Look at Robert Green, Almunia, Ben Forster, and so on ...

Yoshida scored three goals, one wrongly disallowed (and it could have change a lot of things), an own goal and the goal of the salvation. Funny.