Can anybody tell me how did Minamino performed at the games? I heard that he scored after being subbed in, how was his overall play?
Not even sure if there was any kind of stream, I think you're out of luck here. But, you can watch him in Jleague anytime
Just wanted to see if he has the potential to be the main striker for JNT during the next WC since he is an actual striker rather than a winger or second striker/ attacking mid-fielder that was converted into a striker.
Extremely unlikely. Maybe you saw him up-top in the U17 World Cup but I don't see him there anymore, I definitely wouldn't say he is a striker. Kubo was a striker, but he (Minamino) doesn't even score that much.
So Osako is the only real striker we have now that is capable of playing the lone striker role? Can Saito play it? Then what is Minamino role anyway? I am impressed with him when he plays but his role is unclear, even Kenyu is playing on the wings now.
Not really, there are tons of players that can play the lone striker but of course you have to judge their quality. A quick list would be Sato, Toyoda, Osako, Tanaka, Watanabe(?), Kubo, Kawamata, Nagai, Maeda, Sugimoto, well, yes he could work too, Culpi has his own system so don't ask why he is on the wings. Of course they're all different from each other, not all of them have much holding play, some even almost score with headers only, some are faster, some are bigger... I'm not counting Kakitani here of course And how in the world can Saito play lone striker being barely 165 cm he was a second striker and now he's playing as a winger As for Minamino's role, I'd say he can play pretty much anywhere in attack. But alone up front doesn't seem a great option. edit: whoopsie, remember that we're in the U20 thread....
Osako has the potential to be our lone striker next year at WC IMO, he can hold the ball up and he dares to fight for the ball with the defenders unlike Kakitani who shys from physical contact and is skinny. I am impressed with Kenyu's hold up play too, his defensive contribution is also pretty decent from what I seen of him in Osaka matches, don't understand why he is so underappreciated here, did he really perform that badly in the Olympics?
Well, I don't think anyone would be happy to have a striker that has scored one goal in 24 matches, you don't think? Anyway there's the NT topic to discuss this stuff.
We'll see how it goes in the next years and if he goes in Europe where he plays then . I know he grew up as a striker in youth. And I'm not saying he can't score way more in the next years, that would be extremely depressing. I'm saying he likely won't play alone upfront in the JNT, maybe not even in the JLeague where even Kakitani did. edit: I checked and Sato barely played at 18 :/. Not the greatest example...
because he wasn't good enough, that shows Minamino is a good step ahead of him at the same age. Sato scored 2 (!!) at 19.
That ... was never my point. But you can't use his goal number at 18 to say he's not a striker. There is a progression curva.
Yes, but my initial answer was this: It was about him playing forward alone. Indeed I used the word "striker" carelessly because you can be a striker even if you don't play in a classic position very close to the goal. We'll see how he does in the next years About the goals, it depends. Kubo scored much more than him at his age (who cares if he failed after and then recovered) and in his plays too he showed to be a striker type. But as you say for a reason or another Sato didn't for example (though I don't know how many minutes he had per match, where he was deployed on the pitch, etc). All I'm saying is that from what I see I'm not sure he will be a big goalscorer type. Maybe he could do it like Kakitani, then it depends if we want to call Kakitani a striker or not
Kubo played in J2, that is a huuuuge difference. And he hit a wall during his second year. My point is more let the striker be a striker or this country will never develop one anymore. Aguero is small but he manages, so can, maybe, Minamino in the future ! he's been brought up this way, that'd be a waste to change now.
But Aguero is very mobile isn't a target man like Dzeko, for example. Anyway, almost all japanese strikers from now are very mobiles, only Mike is the exception and maybe Kazuma. About Minamino, i don't know if he will be that fixed striker...Japan should play like Barcelona with 9 false...maybe Honda in that position.
The only Japanese striker with average physical build able to deal effectively with defenders bigger than him is... Koroki. Unfortunately not a great finisher. How underrated he is shows this discussion. And Misha's concenption of attacks are similar to those of Zac/Honda ...and I know that won't happen though.
great post, and I know we'll disagree on this, but Kakitani could have tried to do what Aguero does, the biggest hurdle being that he is nowhere as fast as him in general. Kakitani has scored a couple of goals with runs from the midfield this year though, hasn't? I know it's still the JLeague, Ok. I can't blame any coach who'd like to use him that way though. Talent can be shown in movement, finishing and dribbling. Take Novakovic's hat trick with Slovenia of the other day: it didn't require any real dealing physically with the defenders. So, who's the best dribbler in JLeague... ? Usami and Saito, damn edit: f*** I'll try to move these posts in the NT thread, I keep forgetting Ok sounds like I can't without messing up all, who cares.
Kakitani wasn't a striker in the first place because he doesn't have that dash, he did develop strikers instincts afterwards. But the biggest hurdle is that :