Think of Asian football’s top, international teams. Chances are Japan will spring to mind, if not immediately then certainly after Australia, who won its first AFC Asian Cup in January.
It’s a tournament Japan have won four times, although its quarterfinal exit to the United Arab Emirates in Sydney, which followed a group stage collapse at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, has further exacerbated a sense that the Blue Samurai are going into tailspin.
Javier Aguirre, who succeeded the retired Alberto Zaccheroni as manager in August, was ushered out the door last month amidst concerns that his involvement in a Spanish match-fixing probe would disrupt the national side’s upcoming World Cup qualification campaign.
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The combustible Vahid Halilhodzic was appointed in his stead, and last Thursday the Bosnian (his family lives in France and he has previously received the Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur) named his first Japan squad.
It ruffled more than a few feathers.
“You will notice one name missing from the list,” the 62-year-old remarked after submitting his roster. “Yasuhito Endo has made a huge contribution to Japanese football. I have come here for the project of building for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.”
And so ended the international career of the iconic Endo—his country’s most-capped player and two-time AFC Asian Cup champion, J. League winner and Club World Cup bronze medalist.
“I expect competition in all positions,” Halilhodzic added. “Players will be picked on form.”
That the Japanese Football Association turned to Halilhodzic at all suggests both a knee-jerk reaction from the governing body and a change of philosophy among the organization’s decision-makers.
The former Lille, Paris-Saint Germain and Dinamo Zagreb manager wasn’t even on the shortlist when the JFA considered Aguirre’s replacement. The plan was to hire a South American coach who would mimic the technical, short-passing style of Brazil legend Zico, who oversaw the Blue Samurai between 2002 and 2006.
When they couldn’t find one they turned to Aguirre, whose indictment for alleged match-fixing in 2011 while at Real Zaragoza proved a handy means for termination following the Asian Cup disaster.
Halilhodzic, meanwhile, was conveniently unemployed after leaving Turkish outfit Trabzonspor after a tempestuous 14 matches. He claimed a fallout with the club’s board was behind his resignation, although the swift disintegration in the working relationship was entirely within character.
Forged by the Bosnian War during the early 1990s (he was wounded in the temporary Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia capital of Mostar), Halilhodzic has never stopped being a combatant.
Strong-minded and plain-spoken, he abruptly quit Dinamo Zagreb in 2011 following a vicious, half-time shouting match with the executive president (he had already resigned when the post-match press conferences were convened), and after leading Algeria to the knockout stages of last summer’s World Cup he left the Fennecs in a huff, accusing the national media of making his life intolerable.
Incidentally, it was his Algeria tenure that turned heads at Trabzonspor, and while his style represents a break from tradition for the JFA it will almost certainly provide the Japan setup the shakeup it so desperately needs.
A renowned motivator, Halilhodzic infuses his teams with confidence and enthusiasm—traits his latest group of players sorely lacks. But he is also a pragmatist, and his sides typically feel out their opponents before launching effective, smartly-timed counter-attacks.
If the JFA allows him the freedom to enact a culture change, Japan could once again pose a very real threat at major competitions. If they don’t—if they remain beholden to their South American ideal—the relationship will implode as quickly as it commenced.
Halilhodzic does things his way, no matter what or who is daring, or foolish, enough to stand in his path.
Jerrad Peters is a Winnipeg-based writer. Follow him on Twitter