今だ興奮冷めやらず喜びに浸っている状態ですが、早朝のワールドカップのデンマーク戦すごかった。泣けたし鳥肌がたった。

その前に放送していたイタリア戦がかなり面白く、興奮してついつい見てしまう… ちょっとの睡眠で起きて眠さでぼーっと見だしたが立ち上がり結構ハラハラがあり一気に目が覚めて大興奮で観戦。本当に楽しめたしサッカーの醍醐味が味わえた試合であった。

そんな試合をBBCはサイトでトップにリンクを貼って報道しているが、それくらいいい内容の試合として賞賛している。（実際の記事はこちら）そんな中でもすばらしい表現で書かれていたのはあの選手でした。

そう本田を賞賛しているのだが、ポルトガルのクリスチアーノ・ロナウドのようだと書いているのだ。

他にもゴールキーパーの川島も高評価で、サッカーの母国イギリスのBBCがこのような感じで報道している。

個人的には松井の活躍がここ３試合素晴らしいと思っているのでそこら辺をもう少し書いてくれると嬉しかったが…

それにしても日本のメディアは選手の声明や他の人の意見を書くだけってのが目立つ。もっと独自の声で分析や意見を書けないものかな？

スポーツ新聞のサイト見るとわかるがポツポツと単発でそれぞれの選手の意見を２〜３パラグラフで紹介したり解説者の声を紹介するだけ。読んでいて面白くない。

BBCでは裏でComentaryとして記者や読者の意見が書き込まれるつぶやき板があるのだが、日本がこの三試合のような試合をすればいいところに行けるのでは？といった声や本当の驚きなどなどと書かれている。新聞とTwitterが融合して面白いことになっていてこれは面白い。

とにかく嬉しい。なんか今後の為に色々ないい収穫をしてきて欲しい。今だけじゃなく今後の為も重要ですね。
 

Japan scored two stunning first-half free-kicks to secure a well-deserved win over Denmark and set up a meeting with Paraguay in the last 16 of the World Cup.

Keisuke Honda smashed his effort into the far corner before Yasuhito Endo, who also hit a post in the second half, curled a fine strike around the wall.

Jon Dahl Tomasson, who missed several earlier chances, followed up his own penalty to pull one back for Denmark after 81 minutes.

But Honda teed up Shinji Okazaki to seal a famous victory for Japan, which ensured they finished runners-up to Netherlands in Group E and reached the second round for only the second time in their history.

It was a performance of confidence and authority from the Japanese which seemed to come from nowhere. Takeshi Okada’s side had lost five of their previous six games and only scored nine goals in 12 World Cup matches.

But after a tentative start in Rustenburg, they took the game to the Danes, sparking into life with two efforts in as many minutes. First Daisuke Matsui’s clever flick struck the legs of Denmark goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen, and moments later Makoto Hasebe raced into the box but fired narrowly wide.

Denmark went close through Tomasson before a Japan free-kick 30 yards from goal brought about one of the goals of the tournament.

From a straight run-up, in a style reminiscent of Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo, Honda smashed the ball over the wall and watched it swerve past Sorensen into the far corner.

When Japan won another free-kick shortly afterwards, the Danes were clearly expecting another piledriver from Honda, but instead they watched in horror as Endo’s exquisite strike curled around the wall and past the outstretched arms of Sorensen.

While the Danish keeper’s positioning could have been better in both cases, Japan’s strikes were precise and superbly-executed, making a mockery of the difficulty players have been having with the much-maligned Jabulani ball.

In the space of 13 minutes, the Asian side had doubled the number of free-kick goals we had witnessed in the previous 42 matches at this tournament in South Africa.

Denmark looked stunned by the goals, while an energised Japan kept pouring forward with Endo stinging Sorensen’s palms in the closing stages of the first half.

Early in the second, Japan almost scored from yet another set-piece, with Endo’s floated strike from 40 yards slipping bizarrely through Sorensen’s palms and striking the face of an upright.

While the Denmark keeper appeared all at sea, his opposite number Eiji Kawashima looked confident and commanding, diving at the feet of Tomasson to smother the striker’s effort and pushing aside Jakob Poulsen’s long-range shot.

Substitute Christian Eriksen fired narrowly over and Soren Larson volleyed against the bar before Danish pressure finally yielded a penalty in the 82nd minute when Daniel Agger was bundled over by Hasebe.

Tomasson’s initial shot was easily saved by Kawashima but the ball rolled straight back to the striker, whose scuffed effort only just found the net to bring up his record-equalling 52nd goal in a Danish shirt.

Japan restored their two-goal advantage from a brisk counter attack, with Honda dancing his way into the area and committing Sorensen, before pulling the ball back for Okazaki to tap into the empty net.

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