This is the worst ever JNT jersey and probably Top5 worst ever NT jersey in football history. Adidas need to fire whoever did this and employ a chimpanzee leaving the animal type random commands on a keyboard to make a jersey better than this. Anyway I'm happy to see Musashi Suzuki back. Hope he will take his chance.
Japan won 0-2, but it was painful match to watch. Many missed passes, forward players losing possession of the ball when they are in scoring situations. The players seem to have no harmony between them, as if they are playing together for the first time. I think the poor pitch conditions played a big part in what happened today. Anyway, a win is a win, and with Tajikistan surprisingly losing against Myanmar, Japan now is virtually qualified to the final qualifying round (and the 2023 Asian Cup too), and they need to win one or both of their games in next March to guarantee their qualification mathematically.
I hope they can use more Tokyo 2020 players for the remaining WCQ games. By doing so, they have more chances to build chemistry amongst themselves. Wcq games plus friendlies are quite a number of games altogether.
It seems that Japan had another handicap yesterday in addition to the poor pitch condition. The weather was cold, it was obvious as some of the JNT players wore long-sleeves shirts. They played below 10°C (50°F) The remaining away match against Mongolia next March will see Japan play in what it might be it’s coldest match ever, as the average temperature in Mongolia in March is around -8°C (18°F), with its highest temperature -38°C (-38°F). When the draw and orders of matches were announced Moriyasu expressed his worries about the away match against Mongolia in March. This is even much colder than Sapporo itself.
New here, been lurking for a while... couldn't resist and now comment a bit too. For me the game vs Kyrgyzstan was very positive. Not how they played, that was rather unimpressive (and had nothing to do with the temperature, it's not like in Europe it's always 20 degrees...) but... FINALLY Moriyasu did what he should have started doing right after the Asian Cup. Mix it up, stop always using either all the starting members or all the reserves. Especially in an easy group like this, he needs to mix it up much more. Ito for Doan vs Mongolia was a start, this time he really did it. I hope he continues that way. To find better solutions, to integrate new players he can't just have them play with all the other second/third choices, he needs to see them see them play with some starting members. This time no Doan, Olympics team, no Osako, not sure why, doesn't seem to be injured for once, Tomiyasu still injured as far as I know. And then he benched Nakajima too, excellent. And IMO there are quite a few conclusions from this game. a) Japan's offence is very Nakajima dependent. Well, we knew that really, The Asian Cup showed how ineffective the offence becomes without Nakajima. Was enough to advance to the final at the Asian Cup, it won't be enough to advance to the second round at the WC. Moriyasu has to find an alternative, a creative player. Kubo might be it. Or if not Kiyotake, well, if he ever manages to stay fit for longer than 2 months. Or there might be some other guy in the J League, which I don't really follow that closely. Occasional highlights and 2 matches a year or so. b) Ito isn't it. He was clearly the weakest Japanese vs Kyrgyzstan. c)Haraguchi deserves to be there. He isn't really a solution to replace Nakajima, not creative enough for that, but he's versatile, IMO able to play in all 4 positions in front, plus as volante as well. He can score, passing/vision decent enough, excellent on "speed dribbling", not sure how to call that, basically jumping the opponent when he has the ball, much less good in tight spaces, and he fights. Hell, his tackling is 50 times better than Yoshida's, (a shame that such a mediocre CB managed to get 100 caps) might add CB as his possible positions Ok, not really. That IMO should be the way to go for until the 3rd round starts. There he will have much less chances to experiment, he will need to start basically his top 11, with 1 or max 2 changes. Until then he can, should, has to, experiment more. Look for alternatives in every position, by starting 6 or 7 of his top 11, see how the replacement fit in. What's the sense in calling Anzai and Hatanaka each time when they never play? Or if, then with the likes of Miura (blah), and 9 other second to 5th choices. Pointless. Try alternatives everywhere, even for Minamino. While he clearly deserves to be in the discussion, I'm not sure he deserves the starting spot without having ever really tried any alternatives. His movement is excellent, he scores, but as we saw in the Asian Cup, without Nakajima and Osako his performance suffers a lot too. If anything in cases like this he should play as first striker, like in the second half vs Tajikistan, after changing position with Kamada it all worked much better. But as this sort of second striker, without a creative player next to him, without Osako, he almost becomes a luxury Japan can't afford. At this point he would be a starter if I was Moriyasu too, but alternatives have to be tried out. Kubo Yuya.... IMO he would be pretty good in that role too, a bit less lively, different type, but good. Except of course that he doesn't even seem to make it to the bench at Gent anymore, so won't happen. But ok, try Kamada with Osako, try others, even Haraguchi. Just to make sure you have a guy that works in case Minamino gets injured. No Kitagawa please. The olympic squad? He could try that after securing qualification in March... but I'd prefer that he keeps working on the first team, in a year he won't be playing against Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan, and if Kyrgyzstan, then they will be the weakest opponent. And while even the team we saw against Kyrgyzstan of course can qualify for the WC, it certainly won't be automatic, He shouldn't sacrifice the development of the first team for the Olympic squad. Anyway let's see what the reserves + Shibasaki/Nakajima do vs Venezuela. Hopefully he starts those 2, after keeping them here. And really hope he doesn't start Sasaki again, thought we were passed that phase.. the guy is useless. And since he finally called Kurumaya again, who was good pre WC I thought, let's hope he comes to his senses and plays him. Ah, Nagatomo... worst game in a long time vs Kyrgyzstan, if it wasn't for Ito he would have been the worst Japanese. He still should be no 1 of course, but with his age we can't be sure that in 3 years he will still have it, so that's a position where finding an alternative should be a priority. And not Sasaki dammit, Kurumaya!
I'd say especially in June - two home fixtures with qualification already sealed - I expect to see an almost entirely J.League-based side.
Welcome to the forums, you did rise some very good points in your post. Keep up yourself active and do not make us miss out on your lovely posts.
Yes. No need to risk Olympic team players in meaningless matches against oppositions that might injure them. Some European-based players and J-Leaguers will do the job.
Starting line-up against Venezuela: GK: Kawashima. DF: Muroya - Ueda - Hatanaka - Sasaki. MF: Haraguchi - Shibasaki - Hashimoto - Nakajima. FW: Asano - Suzuki. スタメン発表！GK 川島DF 植田,畠中,室屋,佐々木MF 柴崎(C),原口,中島,橋本,浅野FW 鈴木キリンチャレンジカップ2019🆚ベネズエラ代表🇻🇪📆11/19 19:25KO📍パナソニックスタジアム吹田📺フジテレビ系列✅ https://t.co/HHtgL2txHG#daihyo #新しい景色を2022 #キリチャレの日 pic.twitter.com/GFELCD9FVh— サッカー日本代表 🇯🇵 (@jfa_samuraiblue) November 19, 2019
First goal conceded after 8 minutes. Kawashima couldn’t save a soft header from Rondon, and Sasaki stood passively watching Rondon jumping and heading the ball towards the net.
Moriyasu is such an annoying #&@%. In what way does it make sense to start Kawashima in a friendly? Perfect game for Nakamura to get experience. Haraguchi, Nakajima, Asano, Sasaki.... YAWN So much for giving the J League guys a genuine opportunity to prove themselves. At best Furuhashi gets 45 minutes for his career best form.
0-2 now for Venezuela. Sasaki, Kawashima, Suzuki, and Shibasaki must be out as soon as possible. They are very terrible.
Now this is awful, 0-3 for Venezuela in 33 minutes. Moriyasu needs to sub Kawashima out before half-time.
Some out-of-form and complacent players playing instead of younger, in-form players who are hungry to prove themselves. They were not playing, just bystanders. Kawashima did not play a competitive match in the last 5 months. Sasaki is just playing because he was one of Moriyasu’s former players at Sanfrecce. Shibasaki is out of form and did not play for his club team for 1-mont. Nakajima is out of form. Haraguchi is playing for a struggling club in the German second division and sometimes he is not even starting. Suzuki does not belong to international level. Putting this hapless mix together is like setting up a bomb that will blast on Moriyasu’s face in a matter of time and this is what happened.
Furuhashi almost set-up a goal few seconds after being subbed in. He did in seconds what all Japan’s attacking players failed to do in 45 minutes.
Never have I seen JNT got hammered so hard since 2001 when they lost to France 5-0! smh. I just found out that Venezuela is one of CONMEBOL teams that Japan has not yet won a single game against.
Moriyasu out? j/k, but this is a real shock, at first I though I mistook 0 for 4 What the hell happened?
And how many time have we heard that before? This is nothing new. The most tragic thing is these guys will keep getting called up. How many more competitive matches will JNT waste? What was there to lose by starting Furuhashi and co? Absolute madness. Moriyasu GTFO.
Moriyasu’s in-game management is the worst I have ever seen of a Japan NT’s coach ever. Even Zico was better than him in this aspect. He shall bring at least one substitution after Japan went 0-3 down, not to wait until half-time, this alone would have deliver a harsh lesson to the players that they are not immune and they have to step up their game.