He is 1.68m, exactly the same height as Kante and Makele two two of the best defensive-midfielders in the last 2 decades.
They are more physically stronger than him by quite a distance. Oshima is easily bullied off the ball than these two.
Really? Oshima is often the one dispossessing opposing ball holders these days, as was seen the other day when he was stealing the ball away from capable dribblers like Saito and Martinus. At least in the J League I'd say Oshima is a positive on the defensive end, and Vahid would be well served giving him another look in upcoming friendlies.
I remembered a match when he gived the ball away in a WCQ or U-20 WC, leading to a goal by UAE/Saudi or some other teams if I am not wrong. I feel that he cannot handle physicality that well and tend to lose the ball when pressed. And also, he is poor in the air as well.
Yes, that was Oshima's national team debut when he started against UAE and had a crucial giveaway which led to a soft opposition PK. But would you want to evaluate his supposed vulnerability to "physicality" based on literally one play?
I have watched a few of his J league and ACL matches to come to this conclusion. No way I would base it on a single match. And like I said, he is pretty poor in the air as well. He very rarely wins any 50/50 duels in the air from what I observed.
I have to side with Gordon on this one, but the player is performing. I would expect at very least to see him at EAFF. That's a good chance to impress
Surprised nobody posted this. Halilhodzic revealed that he had been under pressure to play specific players from a certain group (JFA and its sponsors) in the post match interview after Japan 2-0 Australia. That's why he started Honda in a meaningless game against Saudi. JFA is run by idiots.
Maybe that is why Nakamura didn't have a chance to start. Anyway, I don't think Honda should start next year. He is getting a little too slow these days.
It was reported that Japan will play against France and Brazil in Europe on the November friendly dates.
Uhm, is there any source for this? I remember him saying that "he had already decided" to play Honda for '45 actually.
Frankly and thankfully nope. "Japan playing well" and "Brazil" can't be in the same sentence. About France: imo this time Eiji will not save the game and Mbappe will rip us apart. Let's hope this will be a nice punch in the face to keep our feet on the ground before the WC.
So it seems Japan will meet Brazil and Belgium in its November European tour. November 10th vs Brazil. November 14th vs Belgium. http://m.sponichi.co.jp/soccer/news/2017/09/22/kiji/20170922s00002014084000c.html In 2013 we defeated Belgium 2-3 in their home, while we lost 0-3 against Brazil. Let's see what kind of improvement Japan and those sides done in the last 4 years.
Neymar will kick our ass again. Belgium will be a nice match since they are valued top5 team w/o deserving it then a defeat will be "as usual" while a victory will give us some self confidence.
October friendlies vs. New Zealand & Haiti Roster Announcement GK: Kawashima, Higashiguchi, Nakamura DF: H. Sakai, G. Sakai, Nagatomo, Kurumaya, Yoshida, Shoji, Makino, Ueda MF: Yamaguchi, Ideguchi, W. Endo, Kagawa, Kurata, Yuki Kobayashi FW: Kubo, Asano, Inui, Haraguchi, Osako, Sugimoto, Muto
Kurumaya is the only new addition. It is almost the same squad as ths one called up for the Australia and Saudi matches. Hasebe, Honda and Okazaki opt not to partocipate, with Wataru Endo replacing Hasebe. Shibasaki is injured, and Kurumaya taking Genta Miura's place. There were no direct replacements for Honda, Okazaki and Shibasaki, as the squad reduced from 27 to 24.
I watched the post match press conference via the following link. 【サッカー日本代表 監督会見】サッカー日本代表 ハリルホジッチ監督の会見をライブでお伝えしています。https://t.co/AiEbd6TbxYニュース・防災アプリでもお伝えしています。— NHKニュース (@nhk_news) September 1, 2017 also Halilhodzic complained about the lack of away friendlies because of sponsorship reasons.