Now that Malaysia and Japan have both qualified for the QF,I'm wondering if strategy wise, it's better if Malaysia send their backup players against Japan so the top players can rest before the QF. I expect it will be hard for Malaysia to beat Japan anyway,even if they send the top players, so why not just give the others the exposure? Malaysia's backup players really impressed me against Egypt,even if they lose against Japan,I think the exposure will be valuable and maybe in a few years they could be champions. But I know Malaysia will probably just be sending their top players anyway and likely Japan will too. Sent from my SM-A307GN using Tapatalk
So, Japan will meet Taipei tomorrow. Coach Park should send Nishimoto to face Chou Tien Chen and save Momota's energy for semi final
But can they afford it to send Nishimoto? Chinese Taipei has a strong pair in the MD rn and the XD could bring fourth a surprise win for them if they manage to break down Higashino's defense... CTC hasn't been playing particularly well so far, but underestimating him could prove fatal for team Japan Would have been an extremely interesting tie with TTY and LY/WCL if they participated this year...
Taipei just send their "second choices" to this tournament except Chou, and they just lost 5-0 against Korea. The more risk the more achievement.
Any lineup predictions? I’d say JPN has a solid chance this year. Much as the main game thread criticized him, Momota played a decent match today. Both games were close and LZJ won on a couple of net cords. He definitely played better than SYQ today so I hope that, and the thought of avenging last SC’s thrashing will push him to take MS. WS is pretty interesting too. CYF hasn’t been clinical this tournament, dropping a couple games against Blichfeldt, ASY, and it’s been a while since she and AY have met so it’s gonna be an interesting match. That and also the possibility of avenging last SC’s loss should also add extra motivation for her. MD could go either way though Hoki/Kobayashi are in pretty good form I must say. The novel Matsu WD lineup is pretty uninspiring I must say so I’m wondering if bringing Matsuyama or Higashino into the fold could make things better (assuming Shida is out). That said, I’m not sure how lineup strategizing, if any, could help them. Do they wanna play XD first up? WataHiga did take a game off WYL/HDP in Tokyo… All I wish for is a fully played tie and not that 3-0 sweep the past two finals they contested.
In my opinion, the Sudirman cup win will depend on whether Yuta and Arisa can win their XD or not. I think every other matchup is quite balanced and evenly contested (at least on paper).
There is decent chance Japan can lift the cup, AY, KM, HokiKoba atleast two of those 3 should win, YutaArisa then can play their part. Taking on fresh Olympic Champions who are full of confidence will be very tough.
Order of play is out. In the best of scenarios, I can see it being 3-0 for JPN to be honest. Allowing the WD and XD to be played may be a bit of an uphill battle. But MD, WS, and MS are all winnable imo.
Looking into future, Yuta-Koba will make a formidable pair, even today they would have won MD for Japan.
I mean, this is really just the tip of the iceberg, isn't it? What the NBA does with Momota is what we call "verheizen" in German.
That worked like a charm. He leaves the tournament exhausted and with two losses against close rivals. The perfect way to build someone's confidence back up after a comeback.
I tend to agree. But Momota will probably have insisted that he play all the matches to see where he stands. ... And now he knows the answer. I imagine that you will have been pleased with Yamaguchi's performance, though! She was relentless!
Welp, at least it wasn't 3-0 to CHN for a change. Guess I have to settle for Yamaguchi's revenge win today. Bunch of what-ifs: - Shida not getting injured - having one more established WD pair (I mean what was the point of bringing Matsumoto tbh; they still had space to bring SakuTaka, right?) Now we move forward to the TUC which, had it been played last year, would both have went to JPN tbh. Now the Thomas Cup is up in the air while the Uber Cup will probably go to either KOR or CHN.