Kazama set to end his season at Frontale and become the next coach Thoughts? small note: JFA's president comes from Tsukuba...
Good choice. Obviously it'll be hard to judge him so far out from 2020 and given they won't have any qualification matches. He doesn't have any experience with under-age teams outside of university football. I just hope the upcoming players get some serious first-team football in the next few years to given him plenty of choice.
Hmm I think there is a possibility that Japan will still play the qualifiers even if they are qualified. That's what is about to happen with South Korea for the U19 for example (the U20 world cup will be played in South Korea next May). If South Korea are among the semi-finalists, three play-off matches will be organised among the four losing quarter-finalists to determine the fifth-placed team which will also qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Otherwise, the following play-off matches will not be played. We'll obviously be already qualified which will mean less pressure on the players, but it'll be up to Kazama to pretend the same intensity from them.
Moriyasu and Teguramori (again), listed as possible candidates: https://www.nikkansports.com/m/soccer/japan/news/201709220000033_m.html?mode=all
I miss Nishino.......now for a few years of games with little focus on defense. I would be quite hyped if he was given the boss job after Vahid.
Will be interesting to see how he set the team up. He plays a 3-6-1 formation at Sanfreece iirc, wonder how will he choose the players for the formation.
List of youngsters that Moriyasu developed during his 5 years in Hiroshima: 1. Asano 2. Aoyama 3. Chiba 4. 5. 6. Waiting for the names as he's well known for actively intoducing young players to the pro football. Kazama would be perfect for the job but JFA can't compete with Toyota's money of course...
It's not only about youngsters, but also players who became functional in his formation and actually benefited of his job.
I hope that he doesn't leave the right players out like it was done in the last u20 world cup, where players like Tatsuya Ito, Maeda, Hiroki Abe, Toshiki Kinjo and some others should have been called. Well, these same players will be eligible for the 2020's olympics.
The final squad in three years time will never satisfy everyone. Tatsuya Ito was playing reserves football until last month. Not sure if Toshiki Kinjo has made the Fortuna matchday team yet, given their position on the table I highly doubt they will needlessly throw him into any games. Looking forward to Hiroki Abe having a breakout season next year, as for now he's a super sub at Kashima, no shame in that for an 18 year old straight out of high school.