It's like asking how Japan attracts so many Brazilian footballers at a young age and has the scouting network they do over there. There's this thing... it's called immigration, when there's a lot of it it's sometimes called a diaspora. I know it's hard to comprehend that Japanese could spread to different parts of the globe like Europeans have... but it's true. Anyway, sarcasm aside, Brazil has the largest expat Japanese population in the world. And Brazilians are among the top (couldn't find a list of who has the most) of foreigners in Japan. My wife's family has relatives in 2 countries... Brazil and now US. Brazil isn't the only country in the region with sizable communities either. Peru has (had?) a number of international footballers with Japanese heritage.
It's also because COMNEBOL snubbed the United States. In 2007, the USA sent a B-Squad (Domestic side) to Venezuela. This angered COMNEBOL so much the 2011 invite to the USA was withdrawn and given to Japan. On the USA boards, there is a lot of contention and anger about this. I must warn Japan about the Copa America. In 1999, Japan sent a side that was entirely domestic. Remember, European clubs are not bound to release Japanese players for the Copa America, because the Copa America is not Japan's regional tournament. Since the Copa America plays during European preseason, you can expect Japan's foreign based players (Uchida, Yoshida, Kagawa, etc.) to not feature. The JFA can force the J-League to release players, as the USSF did with the MLS, but nothing can be done about foreign-based Japanese players. Luckily, I believe a Japanese domestic side will be more competitive than the USA side of 2007. The Japanese have more full internationals playing domestically. The USA's starting lineup barely has domestic-based players. Only two players from the 2007 Copa America featured for the USA in the 2010 World Cup. However, if Japan play poorly, it's likely CONMEBOL will invite another team, or go back to inviting Honduras or the USA as it usually does.
While I'm sure that played a part, I don't think that's the full story either. Japan has been invited before (1999)... prior to 07 US hadn't been invited since 1995. I'm seeing a bit of a pattern here. The US will have only competed once more than Japan, and that was back when the competition was every 2 years. It seems to me Mexico are the only country they've consistently courted since 1993. Interesting point on the international players though. I think that would hurt Japan quite a bit since a good number of the upcoming players have recently or are about to make the jump to Europe. And a number of the older players are retiring. I don't think anyone can realistically replace Nagatomo, for instance. I'd love to see how Komiyama fairs at a high level (I suspect we'd be exposed defensively though.)
Pekerman would be a good choice for Japan. He is one of the top nurturers of talent in football due to his work with the youth in Argentina, and he did good work with Argentina till that bad substitution vs germany. I think Japan MUST either get a latin coach or a Japanese coach. Japan must continue to develop their style of play which has a lot of brazilian influence. They have to get a coach that fits Japanese style NOT someone like Eriksson etc.
I have some sources that tells me Sergio Farias have been guaranteed a contract to coach Japan's national football team.
http://southafrica2010.nikkansports.com/news/p-sc-tp2-20100703-648817.html We may be playing Paraguay. Oh and with Tulio, he says he's just really drained right now. So he's gonna have a think over whether he's good for another 4 years (big committment and he's in that age of 29 where he could be justified doing either). I think he just may do a Nakazawa and not play for a little then get that feeling back.
Oh, he's just being a bit of a diva, he deserves it after all. We all know he will be back there to call... "ATSUMARIIIIIII!!!!"
I've rarely seen a world cup team so close. It would be an almost perfect way to finish on that high for a career. Either way, we got Daiki Iwamasa, Maya Yoshida and Tomoaki Makino ready to step up and all 3 I think are more than ready for the JNT. Still having Tulio would be amazing.
Of course ! He's only 29. It's not like he won the World Cup and the MVP trophy ... What if they all decide to retire because they think they will never do that great again ? Okubo talked about it too (but it wouldn't be bother me even though he did well). Tulio needs to stay. Nakazawa ... would be great too.
Nakazawa's done fantastic and should retire. Infact long-term it would be better if he retired. If we keep tulio he can help the next CB into the team. But if we keep both of them I fear we may have a picture similar to watching Craig Moore of Australia play this world cup, too old and slow for Australia and against germany he was truly embarrassing. Australia didn't have many other options which is why he played (Kisnorbo got injured). However Japan have the choices. If Yoshida establishes himself at VVV I hope he gets in the JNT. He could possibly be a 100 cap player with his age and the way he plays.
With the exception of the few people who root and follow both countries closely, we don't have many people who are preoccupied with reading the Korean forum.
Well...I don't think we really lack good left fullbacks. In addition to Komiyama, we have Yasuda, very promising player and he is quite similar to Nagatomo in many aspects of his game. He can play on both sides, right footed but playing on left, he got pace, agility, good dribbling skills, he lacks the defensive prowess of Nagatomo but he might be even better than him when it comes to attack. I have watched Gamba Osaka's a lot this season and he is one of the rare satisfactions of the team. If he keeps his progression, he might even compete for a starting place. K. Ota is having a great season with S-Pulse, he even played a game with the senior NT, he seems to be destined for a great future and I am curious to see how he develops and grows as a player. We can't consider him for 2014 due to his age but if the future coach is looking for an experienced player likely to provide an immediate satisfaction for the coming competitions, then Araiba might be a good choice. He's good enough to start for the BEST club in Japan, why not the NT ? He has a very attacking profile but he can defend as well, he seems to be in excellent physical and mental shape, he can deliver nice crosses but also make good penetrations thanks to his dribbling abilities and decent pace. I love his straightforward way of playing and how he "goes to the essential", he never misses the occasion to venture inside the box to deliver a killer-pass or take a shot himself. Less glamorous than some players but it's better to have a real left fullback instead of playing Komano/Konno out of their respective positions. A low profile (for his club) player like him would never have its chance with a guy like Okada in charge. He obviously has "something" against Kashima, he didn't just ignored the stars of the team but he even managed to evict Uchida from the starting eleven. I personally don't buy that altitude crap. A guy like Makino won't have too much trouble filling that position, but it might require some testing. He would be a worthy addition thanks to his numerous qualities lacking to the NT :An additional FK taker from the 35 - 40 m range for example. If Nakazawa retires, then no one is better than Iwamasa (strikingly similar to Yuji) to team up with Tulio. As for younger players, we got plenty of them : Yoshida, Morishige, Muramatsu, Iwashita, Ayoama, Mizumoto, Sonoda...You can't really say we have a shortage of talented young defenders but they need to mature and gain experience. None of them really looks capable of safely starting with the NT but things might (and will probably) change within a year or two.
Yasuda has been in and out of the Gamba lineup battling with Shimohira. Nagatomo's greatest attribute is his stamina and defensive abilities while still getting forward. Yasuda isn't like that at all in my opinion -- he's more like Uchida, a pure wingback. On another club he may even play as an outright winger, and may be better suited for that. He's a great talent, like Uchida, but I view him (on the international level) as a liability. Araiba and Iwamasa should definitely get their chances. I'd throw Aoki in as well, and shouldn't even have to mention Ogasawara or Nozawa. But I don't think we can expect them to just step in and play like the defense that showed up at the World Cup either. At the same time it's unlikely any of them -- except maybe Iwamasa -- will still be good in 4 years time. There is probably going to be a lot of new, young blood going to this AFC Cup in January and then South America... I predict growing pains. Sure there's a lot of good untested raw talent... but they're still raw talent at the international level. We're going to South America, not India. Whose left from Okada's first team at this stage? Tulio, Abe (I'm still not sold), Okubo (hope he doesn't go regardless), Komano (weakest link defensively), Endo (can't remember if he's retiring or not? but we need to start finding his replacement) That's not much of a core... and a few them probably won't (shouldn't) continue in the NT. I only rate Tulio and Endo as a good basis to build around there and I have serious doubts either of them will still have it come 2014.
I hope... GK Akihiro HAYASHI Shusaku NISHIKAWA Shuichi GONDA DF Masato MORISHIGE Hiroki MIZUMOTO Marcus TULIO Tanaka Maya YOSHIDA Atsuto UCHIDA Yuto NAGATOMO Taisuke MURAMATSU Michihiro YASUDA MF Makoto HASEBE Takashi USAMI Takuji YONEMOTO Shinji KAGAWA Yosuke KASHIWAGI Keisuke HONDA (C) Koki MIZUNO FW Takayuki MORIMOTO Kensuke NAGAI Yoichiro KAKITANI Shinji OKAZAKI Tadanari LEE Remember, we also have Daiki Matsunami, Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Hajime Hosogai, Atomu Tanaka, Gaku Shibasaki, Takumi Miyayoshi, Gotoku Sakai, Taisuke Muramatsu, Kazuhisa Kawahara, Yohei Iwasaki, Kaito Yamamoto among others to play in National Team in this new era.
Here's what I'm hoping for come 2014 -----------Kawashima-------------- Uchida---Tulio--Yoshida--Nagatomo- ---------Hasebe----Yonemoto------ --------------Yamada-------------- Honda-----------------------Kagawa ---------------Usami---------------- I bet we'd get quarters at least!