{"id":13889,"date":"2011-12-15T05:03:01","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T05:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/nelsinho-hails-japanese-evolution-at-club-w-cup\/"},"modified":"2011-12-15T05:03:01","modified_gmt":"2011-12-15T05:03:01","slug":"nelsinho-hails-japanese-evolution-at-club-w-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/15\/nelsinho-hails-japanese-evolution-at-club-w-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Nelsinho hails Japanese ‘evolution’ at Club W.Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Borges was one of the scorers in Santos’ 3-1 win over Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Brazilian coach Nelsinho hailed the “evolution” of Japanese football after his Kashiwa Reysol side gave his former club, the South American champions Santos, a fright at the Club World Cup.<\/p>\n

A Santos side boasting 19-year-old prodigy Neymar needed a cracker from the young forward and two other sublime finishes from Borges and Danilo, the latter from a free-kick, to claim a probable final meeting with Barcelona.<\/p>\n

The Brazilians ran out 3-1 winners in Wednesday’s semi-final, the impressive defender Hiroki Sakai grabbing the Japanese champions’ goal at Toyota Stadium.<\/p>\n

But it was far closer than the scoreline suggested, statistics showing Kashiwa had more possession and more shots — 14 to Santos’ eight — particularly late on, when the Japanese squandered several clear chances.<\/p>\n

Substitute Masakatsu Sawa was especially culpable, striking the Santos post and lashing the ball over when it seemed easier to score.<\/p>\n

A proud Nelsinho, who guided Kashiwa from second-tier obscurity to the J-League crown in just two seasons, said his side’s stubborn performance was proof football in the Asian country had improved greatly.<\/p>\n

“Japanese football is really growing and developing, especially the young players are growing,” said Nelsinho, for whom the rookie defender Sakai, a product of Kashiwa’s youth team, excelled.<\/p>\n

The exciting 21-year-old attacking right full-back has been linked with a move to Santos.<\/p>\n

“I worked in Japan in the 1990s and I’d say there’s been quite a huge evolution in the players,” said Nelsinho.<\/p>\n

“Compared with the technical ability of the Brazilian players we still have some deficiencies but we played some good football today.”<\/p>\n

Nelsinho, a Santos defender in his day who played later the coach of the South American giants — who was also a room-mate of his opposite number Muricy Ramalho — added: “This was a really good performance.<\/p>\n

“We are a very young team but we were able to create a lot of chances today.<\/p>\n

“In the first half there were two careless mistakes but in the second half we tried to change the way we play and were able to score with a set-piece.<\/p>\n

“We pushed for the draw but then lost the third goal. Our defence was very good despite conceding three goals.”<\/p>\n

The Copa Libertadores champions Santos are likely to face Barcelona in the weekend final of the intercontinental tournament.<\/p>\n

Europe’s finest face Qatar’s Al Sadd in the second semi-final later on Thursday, with the losers to play Kashiwa, who are based in Chiba, near Tokyo, in a third\/fourth place play-off.<\/p>\n

\u00a92011 AFP<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Borges was one of the scorers in Santos’ 3-1 win over Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol Brazilian coach Nelsinho hailed the “evolution” of Japanese football after his Kashiwa Reysol side gave his former club, the South American champions Santos, a fright at the Club World Cup. A Santos side boasting 19-year-old prodigy Neymar needed a cracker from the young forward and two other sublime finishes from Borges and Danilo, the latter from a free-kick, to claim a probable final meeting with Barcelona. The Brazilians ran out 3-1 winners in Wednesday’s semi-final, the impressive defender Hiroki Sakai grabbing the Japanese champions’ goal at Toyota Stadium<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nNelsinho hails Japanese 'evolution' at Club W.Cup - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/15\/nelsinho-hails-japanese-evolution-at-club-w-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Nelsinho hails Japanese 'evolution' at Club W.Cup - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Borges was one of the scorers in Santos' 3-1 win over Japan's Kashiwa Reysol Brazilian coach Nelsinho hailed the "evolution" of Japanese football after his Kashiwa Reysol side gave his former club, the South American champions Santos, a fright at the Club World Cup. 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