One of the pluses of hanging around the press box at soccer matches is never knowing who you're going to bump into. It might be a manager or player, a wife, a girlfriend, a TV star, an old friend, anybody really. More often than not you see a strange face and people whisper, "Who's that?" or "Isn't that so-and-so?"
Sometimes, we never find out and we're left in the dark. At last week's Marinos-Verdy game, one of these mysteries was solved when a frequent visitor to the press box finally introduced himself to me.
The man in question turned out to be Milan Lesicky, former joint head coach of European soccer powerhouse Czechoslovakia, former head coach of the Slovakian Olympic team and for nine years (1987-96) the head of the trainers' commission of the Slovak Football Association. (He was also the last man to play both soccer and ice hockey professionally in the country. "In the summer, hockey took a holiday and I played football; in the winter, football took a holiday and I played hockey," he recalls. "It was a stupid, crazy idea.")
Two years ago, Lesicky came to Japan with his wife -- an official at the Slovakian embassy -- and became a man of leisure, a move that leaves him free to tour the Kanto area and watch Japanese soccer, although he wouldn't be averse to doing something in the Japanese game.
"I would like to help Japan football," he explains. "I've had a successful career as a coach -- perhaps uniquely so among the coaches currently in Japan -- and I know Japanese football very well. I'm sure I can help Japanese football in some way."
Perhaps he could be tempted to return to the game as a coach, but, for now, he's willing to sit back and tell Japan Times readers what he has learned from watching the J. League and Japanese soccer. So, here are 10 questions for our man from Slovakia, Milan Lesicky.
What's your overall impression of the J. League?
It's not something I can give a clear-cut answer to. Overall, the league is roughly the standard of the Czech or Slovakian leagues, but the elements within the league are different when you compare the J. League to, say, Serie A or the Bundesliga.
The competition in Japan looks like it's got everything -- it's well organized, the stadiums are nice, there's lots of action -- but something always seems to be missing. In a word, I would say it's aggression. Away from the pitch, this is a good thing. Fans in other countries aren't merely aggressive, they are violent -- toward the opposing team, the opposing fans, the coaches, the players, everybody. Here, fans applaud on both sides. It's good to see. On the the pitch, though, the Japanese players need more bite to compete internationally.
Do you think the league produces good players?
The league relies a lot on the foreign players to provide flair. The Japanese grow up in a very regimented society that generally looks down on any expression of individuality and this is reflected in the type of football you see here and the players Japan produces. The likes of (Hidetoshi) Nakata and (Shunsuke) Nakamura are few and far between. The other players are just very disciplined and tend to rely on the foreigners to create things.
What about the referees?
In Japan, there is usually little advantage for the home team, unlike in Europe. A big reason for this is the referees, who are consistently poor and who cannot seem to tell the difference between competitive play and foul play. Physical play is severely curtailed by the refs who dish out yellow cards far too quickly and allow little or no physical contact. This is bad for the development of the players, as, when they get outside the country, they are forced to face up to bigger, stronger and more aggressive players and referees who are far more liberal in the use of physical contact.
What do you think of the Japanese style of play?
Well, I don't think they have one. They copy from England, Europe and South America, depending on who the coach is and where he's from. There doesn't seem to be any consensus as to what style suits the Japanese, which is what they should be concentrating on.
You'd think a nation of 125 million people would be able to create something of its own. Perhaps the problem arises because Japanese soccer is still very young. It's all very well having foreign coaches, but the conflicting styles of the different teams will create problems for the national team.
Don't get me wrong, I think Japanese football is very entertaining, but there are other aspects to be taken into consideration, such as creating a successful national team. At the moment, the league is not working to the benefit of the national team. Maybe that's why the national team is not doing so well.
I was reasonably impressed with Japan at the last World Cup. Their defensive style may not have been pretty, but it was effective. But of course they had no attack. It's a lot easier to produce a good defensive strategy than an offensive one. To be successful in attack on the international stage, your players have to be strong and aggressive, and you have to play to your strengths.
The Japanese players have good technique so they should try and hold on to the ball using short combinations and keeping the ball on the ground. It's no good trying to play in the air when your opponents are all 2 meters tall and weigh 100 kg. The Japanese have technique and speed and they should use that to their advantage. Players like (Masashi) Nakayama and (Wagner) Lopes may be able to impress in the J. League, but they're too cumbersome in international matches. I have a feeling that the younger players will find it easier to adapt and hopefully will be able to make the change to international football.
As a coach, how would you approach handling a J. League club and Japanese players?
On the one hand, I think the coaches have to have stronger players and make the exercises in training reflect a more competitive style of play, while on the other hand, they need to use more compact exercises to produce creative players. But it's something that will take a long time; it can't be done overnight. Do you think Japanese players should aim to play overseas?
Yes, yes, absolutely. Japan's good young players must go abroad and try to play for a good club in a good league, at least for two or three years so they can get used to a different kind of football. That's how they will learn and develop. Then, if they come back to Japan, they can start to change things here. Part of the problem is that the Japanese players have a good way of life here and earn good money, so the motivation for going abroad is not always there. Nakata has done it because he had the ambition and he is so strong mentally. Japan needs more Nakatas. Most Japanese players have no international experience and experience is so important.
Do you think it's partly due to the small size of the Japanese?
Well, Nakata's not so big but his attitude is not typically Japanese, and Czechoslovakia's Ivan Hasek was thin and short but made up for it with aggression. There are small players everywhere. The physical aspects are not always the most important; the mentality of the player is crucial, too. Give me three or four weeks with a player and I'll have his conditioning right. That's easy, but mentally it's not so easy. A player's mentality is something that he's grown up with and it's not so easy to change. What's important is to combine mental training with physical training. In addition, as a coach you try to gather together players who fit in with your way of thinking. Sometimes it's easier to replace a player rather than try to change his bad habits.
How does this apply to the Japan national team?
If a coach comes to Japan and he doesn't know Japanese football, it's going to take him two or three months at least just to find out about the Japanese way of life, their society and their mentality, and it's important for the national coach to know these things. I think the initial handicap for Philippe Troussier was that he had to spend so much time just getting used to the way of doing things here and discovering the Japanese mentality even before getting to know the players. Of course, it's difficult for a foreign coach to come in cold, not knowing the players.
A foreign coach has to respect a country's way of doing things. Of course, it's better to have a coach who already knows the way of thinking of the country where he's working and then to find a balance within the players available to him. The players have to blend together, but they have to work within their own limitations. I really think Troussier didn't know enough about Japan in the beginning and maybe now it's too late.
The Japan national team is not bad -- the top 60 or 70 teams in the world are all capable of beating each other -- but it lacks the tradition and experience of the top teams and moving up to the top level takes a lot more than moving up from the lower ranks to the top 50. I use the analogy of a high jumper. Perhaps after a couple of years' training most high jumpers can reach 200 cm, but to move up to 205 cm requires perhaps another two or three years training. It's very difficult to move up to that final level.
Are the J. League clubs getting the coaching they need?
They must learn to choose their coaches carefully. Like the player, the coach must have talent, but the talent of a good player is different to that of a coach. The best players are not always the best coaches. Both have to be able to make decisions and the decisions have to be the right decisions, but the coach has to be a broad thinker. He has to assimilate and adapt; he's not just a guy who makes out the team sheet and schedules training.
Which players in the J. League do you think have the potential to make it in Europe?
Nakamura is my favorite, Naohiro Takahara is a good young player and I like the Antlers' Yutaka Akita; he's a good defender. I think the younger generation of players will produce far more players who can make the grade; the older generation is carrying too much baggage. But these young players have to get out of Japan and improve themselves; if they stay in the J. League, they will stagnate and they will not progress. There's a danger of becoming self-satisfied in Japan, of being content with being a big fish in a small pond.
If you want to succeed, you have to push yourself to the limits; you have to take risks out on the pitch. You won't win anything by playing safe. There are some players in Japan who play like they're satisfied with their level of ability and popularity. They have a bit of money and fame and that's all they need. But they win nothing and to me they mean nothing. They are nothing. But the Japanese media let them get away with it. They say nothing. Even Nakata only plays at around 50 percent in friendly matches for Japan, but nobody criticizes him. When he plays in the Italian league, he's a different player. Why aren't journalists in this country asking the important questions? These questions have to be asked.