The AFC 2018 U-23 Championship draw. Japan is in Group B with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. We’re definitely in for a treat come January!Here’s the #AFCU23 Finals draw results. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/7qQveyn4SP— AFC (@theafcdotcom) September 26, 2019
Japan’s squad for Brazil tour in which they will face Brazil’s U-22 NT: GK Osako Tani DF T. Watanabe Machida Tatsuta Hara Koga Seko MF Nakayama Miyoshi Morishima Mitoma S. Tanaka Endo Meshino Sugioka Ao Tanaka K. Watanabe Hashioka Sugawara FW K. Ogawa Hatete No Keito Nakamura, Hiroki Abe, Daizen Maeda, Tatsuya Ito, Louis Yamaguchi, Ryosuke Kojima, Ayase Ueda, and Yuki Soma. Tomoki Iwata and Mitsuki Saito are both excluded (due to injury). Interesting to see Shunta Tanaka included as a MF, which suggests that he will play as a defensive-midfielder rather than a CB.
#Japan U-22 starting line-up against #Brazil U-22: GK: Osako. DF: T. Watanabe, Tatsuta, Machida. MF: Hashioka, Tanaka, Nakayama, Sugioka, Miyoshi, Meshino. FW: Ogawa. Japan already defeated São Paulo U-20 0-3 3 days ago with a brace from Sugioka and a goal by Ogawa.
... and Japan scored the equaliser by the ever-impressive Ao Tanaka in the 28th minute (assist by Daiki Hashioka) : #田中碧 ゴール #橋岡大樹 アシストU-22 #ブラジル 代表 1-1 U-22 #日本 代表 Japan U-22 first goal against Brazil U-22:⚽️ scored by Ao #Tanaka, 👟assisted by Daiki #Hashioka: pic.twitter.com/oNZ2yQEQ1j— Samurai Warrior (@SamuraiWarrio17) October 14, 2019
End of first half: Really good players: Hashioka, Sugioka, Tanaka and Meshino. Really awful players: Nakayama and Osako IMO, the coach should put Morishima in the place of a CB, thus moving Miyoshi to the RW.
Ao Tanaka and Daiki Hashioka have really great potential, they should have already being playing in Europe.
Second goal by Ao Tanaka: #田中碧 ゴールU-22 #ブラジル 代表 1-2 U-22 #日本 代表 Japan U-22 second goal against Brazil U-22:⚽️ scored by Ao #Tanaka: pic.twitter.com/IiXTqAWnoK— Samurai Warrior (@SamuraiWarrio17) October 14, 2019
Third goal by Yuta Nakayama: #中山 雄太 ゴール #田中碧 アシストU-22 #ブラジル 代表 1-3 U-22 #日本 代表 Japan U-22 third goal against Brazil U-22 (1-3 for Japan) :⚽️ scored by Yuta #Nakayama, 👟assisted by Ao #Tanaka: pic.twitter.com/hIrVIgUpI7— Samurai Warrior (@SamuraiWarrio17) October 14, 2019
You guys see the new army style uniform design? Many netizens are not happy about it. https://oricoma.com/sports/10768/
Ritsu Doan and Takefusa Kubo might play with U-22 team in this month’s friendly against Colombia instead of joining the senior NT. It was circulated in some news sites. My prayers are on their way to be answered after all.
Both of them hasn't been performing very well for the senior team too plus they are most likely going to be in the squad for Tokyo 2020, it is better for them to play with the U-22 squad more.
Japan’s Olympic team squad for the friendly match against Colombia: GK: Osako - Tani. DF: Itakura - Watanabe - Iwata - Machida - Tatsuta - Hara. MF: Nakayama - Miyoshi - S. Tanaka - Endo - Doan - Meshino - Suga - A. Tanaka - Hashioka - Sugawara - Kubo. FW: Ogawa - Maeda - Ueda. 8 European-based players are included. 5 European-based players are not included: Hiroki Abe - Louis Yamaguchi - Tatsuya Ito - Tomiyasu (injured) - Keito Nakamura. Surprised not to see Sugioka called-up to the squad, also missing are: Mitsuki Saito (injured), Morishima, Mitoma, Hatete. Kojima’s exclusion should be a surprise too, as he was the first-choice goalkeeper in this generation until Osako overtake his place.
what a ********ing joke. give the european-based guys a rest and focus on their club football instead of jet lagging them for a single underage football friendly match. kubo needs a break and focus on getting back to the starting eleven at mallorca. doan has been unconvincing for the last several months. i realise the olympics is a big deal for any hosting country but i feel calling these guys up is this is doing more harm than good.
thankfully someone in jfa has realised kojima has done nothing to warrant a place in the team. he's barely played since graduating university. same thing happened with daisuke sakai at oita trinita.
Olympics are just few months away. Japan had never played with their “perceived” full-strength squad in the last year and they need to integrate the likes of Doan, Tomiyasu, and Kubo in the Olympic team. Doan did not play with the team since 2017 U-20 WC, Tomiyasu did not play since last year’s Touloun tournament, and Kubo was never really involved in the Olympic team setup so far. It makes sense, and it is important to do such think now, rather than leave it 3 or 2 months before the Olympic tournament with only 4-6 (or even less) matches to play.
Would have preferred Tagawa or even Miyashiro given a try in the match over Ogawa and Ayase Ueda Was hoping the likes of Shunki Higashi and Hiroki Ito, etc. given a chance as well.
tagawa finally played into some serious form at the u20 wc before tearing his hamstring. miyashiro has scored one goal in 15 games at yamaguchi.
The players you think they deserve a chance did not do anything lately, some of them barely played for their club teams, unlike the ones called-up to the squad.
Well Koki Ogawa and Ueda has been given quite a few chances but they haven't perform very well imo, especially Ogawa, who has been playing for the youth team a lot but hasn't really impressed even if he has scored a few goals imo e.g Toulon cup. Shunki Higashi is performing decently now imo. And, Hiroki Ito on the other hand can be provide an additional option due to his physicality. Of course, there are other players e.g Sugioka, Mitsuki Saito and Koki Saito, etc. that also should have considered too imo. It seems that there are simply too many options to pick from currently.
Ueda is this generation’s top-striker, he has been a constant goal scorer. Koki Ogawa has been on fire since joining Mito Hollyhock last July, scoring goals and helping the team to solidify their chances in the promotion spots. He had a lackadaisical year in 2018, but he is gradually gaining form and momentum this year. Tagawa barely played for FC Tokyo this season, and Miyashiro did not do anything remarkable except scoring a single random goal for Renofa Yamaguchi. So why they shall be called-up? Not to mention that Miyashiro is a different type of player compared to Ueda and Ogawa (He can’t play as the tall striker inside the penalty area). In this sense, Yuki Kakita is a better option than Miyashiro. Shunki Higashi is a good prospect, but he did not play for Sanfrecce Hiroshima for a while, and his position is well-covered by better players: Sugawara, Iwata, Sugioka, and Hashioka. While Hiroki Ito’s perceived physicality is a mirage. He is tall yes, but not too strong when it comes to physical challenges. He was annihilated against Uzbekistan in last year’s AFC U-22 tournament (when Japan lost 0-4), and then by Ecuador and Italy in this year’s U-20 WC. Not to mention his bad defending, passing, shooting, and positioning skills. Even a diminutive central midfielder like Mitsuki Saito was in another universe when it comes to holding himself against physical challenges compared to Hiroki Ito. Lastly, he barely played for his club this season. He is nowhere near the Olympic team as of now. The problem with the names you are mentioning is that they are way too remote and unrealistic option for the Olympic team right now. Especially with the tournament approaching and Moriyasu has to work around core players who actually have a chance at being a part of the final squad and form harmony between them. There is no point of calling-up such fringe players at this stage, as it will disrupt the team preparations of the Olympics.