Anyone here follow the Japanese U20 team? I know the AFC Youth Championship starts tomorrow, and was wondering what people here think about Japan's chances. I'm actually wondering because that tournament also serves as qualifying for the U20 World Cup next year. I'm hoping Japan will qualify, and maybe, just maybe, the Japanese team would come play in my home town of Toronto.
Re: Youth/U20 Team? Our U20 teams have been qualified for the U20 World Cup since 1995, but obviously this tournament will be tough for us.
Re: Youth/U20 Team? It seems the group stage opponents for Japan are the same teams they beat in the knockout stages of the u-17 tournament, no?
Re: Youth/U20 Team? i've watched the highlight of the game on yabechi fc. very very nice goals by the great japan young guns. and congrats on their win over tajikistan too
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] Japan 2-1 Saudi Arabia Japan has qualified for the U20 World Cup.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] i fully congratulate the japan youth team. well done!!
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] Japan 2 - 1 Saudi Arabia First Half Highlights [YouTube | JPN] Second Half Highlight [Youtube | JPN] To be honest, that play by the GK should have been a red, and I really don't see the Penalty.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] wtf? how did we give up a pk? ********ing saudi should be happy with the result. that pk was totally bogus. the scoreline should have been at least 3-0
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] South Korea is the next opponent, looks like they are going to be very tough, but I think Japan can pull it off.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] So very nearly robbed at the end, with the dubious penalty. And was that a blackout AGAIN in India? Well at least the boys are through to the U20 World Cup.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] Japan beat Korea on PKs to advance to the final. I only saw the PKs, but it was 2-2 after extra time. Both sides were pretty bad at taking PKs, but Japan edged through.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] An Amazing victory. PS: Japan played 10 men during the second half. What we saw tonight: Great team effort. goal keeper Hayashi was brilliant. Time for Drink
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] North Korea played really well. I thought Japan was stupid not to try to finish off the match in regulation time (I think the final sub didn't come in until the last minute of ET), but at the end of the day, both teams were pretty evenly matched and you can't complain. I wonder if any Koreans are going to claim now that it "was a D R A W". As far as I am concerned, North Korea won, and they deserved it for the play of their keeper alone. He should have been MoM or even tournament MVP. Made a fantastic save on Umesaki just at the end of regulation If any Koreans read this, congratulations to North Korea. It was a great performance and I think they will becomea solid opponent for the full NT in the future. I won't bother posting on the other board, though. I have had enough flame wars for one year.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] Dude, offically every game decide tiebreaker is DRAW. Japan draw against both Korea, win 1 tiebraker, lose 1 tiebreaker. It suck decide game tiebrake, they should let teams play until score in final. You can't do it before final, team could be too tire play well in final. Based on play, IMO Japan should lost to South Korea and win N. Korea but ya know thats soccer. Best team don't always win. Congrats to Japan and both Koreas. All our kid play great. Future of Korea and Japan soccer loo good.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] Can't believe our coach subbed out Morishima. Sho Ito is hype. Mike Havenaar is too skinny for a White player. Oh well. Well done Japanese lads.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] I guess the Norks got their payoff from feeding and training their footballers from drug and counterfeit money.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] Finals clip from youtube minus the PK. Looks like both goals were pretty amazing.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] The North Korean goal was jaw-dropping. Can't believe how much swerve there was on that ball.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] This is true only in terms of the technical definition, and how it is recorded in the statistics books for future reference, for things like seeding tournaments. But in terms of common sense, you know exactly what I mean. You wont find any newspaper with the headline that says "U-20 Japan DRAWs final against North Korea". They say "Japan loses Youth Championship final on PKs" or "North Korea wins PK shootout to claim U-20 title". People who have to resort to the technical definition in order to reassure themselves that they "didnt really lose" are just poor sports. Japan lost to North Korea in the final. They showed that they are on a par with both Koreas, by taking both matches to PKs. But in a tournament setup, there are only two possibilities: Either you win, and go on to the next round, or you don't win, and don't go on to the next round. If you want to call that latter option something other than "losing", you go right ahead. Personally, I am not afraid of calling it what it is. In football, the "better" team doesnt necessarily always win, but a title is still a title. And if you fall short of the title, it means you lost.
Re: Official Youth (U20/21) Japanese NT Thread [R] Absolutely! I don't agree with the people bashing Havenaar. He may not be quite as effective as Morishima, but he was winning every single high ball that came near him. It was just that nobod ever sent him anyhigh ball in front of goal, and that isn't his fault. I agree Morishima was a better player overall in this tournament, but Havenaar could be useful in the future for his power in the air. But Ito, on the other hand, was a worthless substitution both times they used him in this tournament. He can't dribble, can't pass, can't run, can't shoot and can't defend. People keep saying "Wenger thought he was great", but do they really have that comment on record? If so it ruins my opinion of Wenger. But I think more likely the kid just got a lucky break to go have a tryout in England, and the press typically turned that into some crazy hype. I seriously doubt that Wenger ever said "this kid is great". I just can't see it.