Thanks ChinkyCandie for the scans. I loved the conversation between Tane and Zeus I wish we could see more of Zeus. He is not a sore loser. I guess is time for Atobe to show off against Australia.
If we assume Australia > England (who are currently ranked 7th) and that Japan is going to beat Australia, putting them either slightly ahead or behind Argentina seems like the way to go. Ryoma said that they're still weaker than the USA, but of course we don't know how the US matches up against the big 4 at their current level. In general the real ranking of the top 5 seems a bit unclear at the moment with Ryoga/Ryoma, Camus and Medanore all being somewhat unknown factors.
Australia beating Greece is pretty much a given. I'm kinda expecting Greece to have another play on or very close to Zeus' level, maybe even two. Just so that you can get that "Oh look, X Australian player beat that Greek player who is almost as good as Zeus even though Zeus already gave Tanegashima a lot of trouble." Back when Zeus was first shown, Sai said the other two HSers for the singles matches should've been Hades and Poseidon rather than Hermes and Vulcan, so I feel like maybe they could work as sacrifices against Australia.
You mean "shouldn't", yeah? The answer is pretty simple: unless England is going to have any more relevance in the story, there's really no point. If they have "Murray" then maybe that guy didn't play, but if you want to build up Australia by having them beat a strong team, having that strong team use their weakest members really cheapens the effect.
My... prediction for the line-up against Australia is so wrong.
And I thought that it would be Switzerland next... :
So we'll probably see Kintarou in singles, I'm really looking forward for it. And mainly MSers are in this group... I wonder how they're going to fare against Australian HSers. (there is no suspense at all for Atobe's match)
But I'm wondering... When will Mifune use Hakamada, Date and Nakagauchi ? It seemed like the perfect occasion to use these players...
A 2ch poster claims that Atobe is scheduled to appear in S3 and also that the match won't actually start this month, rather that what Konomi tweeted out is one of the final pages.
We know that Australia will put a much better fight than Greece did, but no matter how I see it, this line up can't lose at all. Sanada and Yukimura in D2 will trash whoever they play unless is one of Australia's top Hser pairs. Fuji/Niou (if it happens) could be the only match Japan will lose. Atobe and Oni will win definitely so that's already 3-1, plus Kintarou that lost his last match, I think Japan will drop one match and beat Australia 4-1. Japan's lineup is just too strong unless Australia sends their top players, and Japan will still win in the end.
That said, they will lose against Switzerland. Byodouin, Duke and Irie will play, but the remaining Msers are Kite, Marui, Gin and Akutsu, this is a bad choice after all.
Seems like Switzerland lost to Australia during the first round. If that was the case, Switzerland will probably send their very best team (including Amadeus) against Japan in order to proceed to the next stage.
So my prediction that there is gonna be an all MSers team lead by Oni is correct. However, I never expect all the top tier MSers to be in the team. I am not sure whether if Mifune is confident that a top tier MSers team would be able to win against Australia or he just wanna let the MSers to gain experience.
--- Double Post Merged, , Original Post Date: ---
Here is the score for matches from other groups
USA 3:0 Denmark
Spain 3:0 Canada, (group also contains Nertherlands and Korea)
Germany 3:0 Turkey (group also contains South Africa and TUBE)
France 3:0 Czech (group also contains Mexico and Taiwan)
If Switzerland lost to Australia there fucked they ain't making it out of the group league. Unless he plans to have all 3 of them on 2 wins each at the end of the group league
We know that Australia will put a much better fight than Greece did, but no matter how I see it, this line up can't lose at all. Sanada and Yukimura in D2 will trash whoever they play unless is one of Australia's top Hser pairs. Fuji/Niou (if it happens) could be the only match Japan will lose.
Agreed that Fuji/Niou seem likely to take a loss. It'll be good for Niou to finally abandon his Tezuka copy and move on to something else and Fuji had a win pretty recently, so he has fulfilled his quota for now. I'm not expecting any of the others to lose, but I think if anyone will it might be Oni actually. The way I see it, Oni showed everything he had in the match against Kintarou, so if he's facing Australia's top player it could be a tough match for him. Plus, if Australia does qualify ahead of Switzerland, you'd have the "guy who beat Oni" as fodder for another team.
That said, they will lose against Switzerland. Byodouin, Duke and Irie will play, but the remaining Msers are Kite, Marui, Gin and Akutsu, this is a bad choice after all.
I'm expecting Kimijima over Irie. Something like:
D2 Kite/Gin -> L
D1 Kimijima/Marui -> L
S3 Akutsu -> W
S2 Duke -> W
S1 Byoudouin -> W
Maybe Kimijima/Marui could win instead of Duke, but an 0-2 deficit seems like a Konomi thing to start off with here. This is also still a pretty strong team overall - Kite and Gin can't keep up with the best individually, but they're both off the charts in a specific area, so as long as their combination works out I think they won't lose too badly. Akutsu also finally needs to justify his development so far with a win in my eyes.
So my prediction that there is gonna be an all MSers team lead by Oni is correct. However, I never expect all the top tier MSers to be in the team. I am not sure whether if Mifune is confident that a top tier MSers team would be able to win against Australia or he just wanna let the MSers to gain experience.
I think it's the former. His reasoning might be that they only have 5 top level HSers and not 6, and the bottom end MSers definitely need some help in doubles. So if he wants to use all of them, then having a team consist almost entirely of the top of the strongest MSers makes sense.
If Switzerland lost to Australia there fucked they ain't making it out of the group league. Unless he plans to have all 3 of them on 2 wins each at the end of the group league
Well, that would be a way to make Japan face the 1st seed of a different group in round 1 of the main tournament despite qualifying after their second match already, but yeah, if Switzerland is 0-1 now this might just be the end of the line for them.
Kaoz: Hahaha Told you Oni will vs Australia :P Was wrong about Switzerland being next though...which will waste Yukimura/Sanada.
I don't think Atobe will end up playing in singles 3, even though he is scheduled. He'll ask Oni for permission to play against Dorgias, in which ever position he is in.
Is Oni even going to play ? I mean, the current MSers in this group are perfectly able to win their matches and that could give some hype to them in the eyes of other teams. That's just going to prove Japan has a golden generation (we already know that but I don't think foreign teams are aware of it) which is able to defeat HSers. That could be pretty awesome... Their result against Switzerland will probably going to confirm Japan's new status of a very dangerous team : I still don't think Japan is going to win against them but I easily imagine a close score like 3-2.
That's just going to prove Japan has a golden generation (we already know that but I don't think foreign teams are aware of it) which is able to defeat HSers. That could be pretty awesome...
I think this is the most likely scenario, but after mulling it over a bit more, I believe there's a small yet non-negligible chance for Australia to beat Japan here. Think about the consequences of that result:
Japan vs Switzerland would be a big climax with main tournament qualification on the line (just like two years ago vs France btw) rather than Japan already being basically through and only playing for 1st or 2nd place. This line of reasoning was actually also why a lot of us expected Switzerland to be the second opponent and Australia the third - Japan would be in a 1-1 situation and have to win no matter what.
If Australia qualifies for the main tournament, the team that beats them would look really strong afterwards. Again, similar situation to if Switzerland beats Japan and advances, but while I can't see Byoudouin losing, Oni losing is technically possible in my mind.
Japan ending the Group League in 2nd place would give them a more difficult 1st round opponent in the main tournament, assuming 1st seeds play against 2nd seeds.
Reasons 2 and 3 can work out regardless of who advances besides Japan, the main point is really the first one. As for who of the current line-up could lose, probably Niou, Fuji, Kintarou and Oni.
To be honest, I think that IF Atobe does end up playing in singles 3 - not against Dorgias - Japan will 3-0 Australia. If Dorgias is in singles 1, then Japan will 3-2 Australia. Make it more exciting for the Atobe vs Dorgias match. Puts pressure on Atobe to win.
I do agree Oni losing is possible but I honestly cannot see that happening. He's motivated now.
Also, why/how would Australia defeat Switzerland? They are filled with bursting talent. There is only ONE reason why Switzerland would lose - they put literally no effort into them.
Also, why/how would Australia defeat Switzerland? They are filled with bursting talent. There is only ONE reason why Switzerland would lose - they put literally no effort into them.
Well, yeah, Switzerland underestimated them. But Australia is strong too. Assuming they beat England, they beat the former no. 5 team - it doesn't seem farfetched that a strong showing of a team like that could defeat an overconfident member of the big 4.
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