by Matt Riley
2nd December, 2014
The three Thai players recently returned from the Japan Pro Footballer's Association trials have no chance of being signed. Ratchaburi's Attawit Sukchai, Chainat's Adisak Kikosum and Suphanburi FC's Jakkapan Pornsai (pictured) may have flair and flashes of potential, but not enough stamina and high work rate that comes as standard in Japanese football. However, whilst there was a chasm dividing the two nations, Japan is learning the hard way that all work and no playmakers makes Jack's teams dull and predictable. Another chastening World Cup campaign of automated and uninspired players short circuiting on mass means the time is right to bring in Thai imports. But the players they assess need to be from the very top drawer.
If the three players chosen to show their wares in Japan were BEC Tero's stylish defender Tanaboon Kesarat, mercurial midfielder Chanatip Songraskin and Suphanburi FC's elegant midfielder Charyl Chappuis, then Japanese clubs could substitute skills for drills and add new dimensions to a rigid approach cruelly dismantled in Brazil. They would need to accept lower fitness levels in return for a glorious unpredictability that challenged their way of thinking and showed fans another way of play deviating from blueprints into gloriously freestyle football.
The J League is struggling after powering from pre twenty-first century obscurity to, like the Japanese economy, splutter and stall despite Hundred Year Plans and a previously assumed inevitable momentum built on science and efficiency. The beauty of football is its insanity, where a lazy but gifted player outsmarts an automated and physically-perfect opponent using grace, insolence and improvisation. Instead of looking to add poetry to their game, the Japanese FA will reorganise next season's structure to address a six year decline in attendances and sponsorship.
A two stage season with a "mini league" for the first time in a decade aims to create end of season play-off style excitement. But, instead of changing the shop, they need to look carefully at what is on sale inside it. Flair and unpredictability would soon bring the fans back to see first-hand a passion play instead of a kitchen sink drama and it is the very best Thai players who can sprinkle dreary games with a pinch of heart-racing magic.
Ironically, the J League team that invested heavily in flair this season ended up acrimoniously relegated. Cerezo Osaka bought Uraguayan Diego Forlan to support a star-studded home-grown squad of internationals and supposed prospects. Thai style, they went through three coaches during this dreadful season when their pre-season boast of having, "the strongest attack in history" came back to haunt them with a huge banner and a baying home crowd the bitter backdrop for outgoing Chairman Masao Okano's final speech to the crowd.
For once, Thailand has something Japan needs. These three have the skills, character and potential to reset an age-old balance and there are more young Buccaneers waiting in the wings.
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