Horrendous display by the boys. I just can't... (sigh) Is this the same Mexico that was hammered 5-0 by Japan five months ago?
That's what happens when you don't want to win enough. The coach took a nap on the sidelines and we were eliminated with some of our best players on the bench. Nishikawa will never make it btw.
Nowadays Japan has lots of very quality players, so instead of trying to use the XI that best suit their tactics, japaneses coaches should pick the best players in each position. This can be decisive in moments like this, when you could have a Nakai and Jiro Nakamura in your team, instead of a Mito and Souki Tamura. For instance, if Moriyama had used the best players for each position, the starting XI would be something close to this: GK: Masato Sasaki CBs: Riku Handa, Kosei Suwama FBs: Sho Morita, Aoto Osako DM: Kaiwa Fujii or Satoshi Tanaka CM: Takuhiro Nakai OM: Naoki Nakamura Wingers: Jiro Nakamura, Wakatsuki Striker: Zen Tanaka or Ryoma Ishii Furthermore, under age WCs are full of european scouts, so using the best players available could increase the number of japanese players sent to Europe.
If they could make it further, e.g SFs or even finals, wouldn' they attract more attention from the scouts? Japan has been going out at the RO16 for the past few youth WCs. It is a worrying trend imo, winning consistently helps to build a winning culture and the players would see winning as a necessity more rather than as a bonus. Of course, the results has to do with the constant rotation of players as well. I hope that the Youth team can also prioritize actual results as well rather than simply making every player have minutes in the game the only aim of these tournaments.
Participating in these tournaments allow the players and coaching staff to acquire valuable experience in many different facets, for instance, it helps the players to not overrate nor underrate an opponent in the future, to avoid some kinds of mistakes, and to understand the winning mentality. Japan is a relatively newcomer to important international football competitions, so the country doesn't have former WC players in its coaching staff. But in the future, when this start to change, it can help the country to go further in these competitions.
Hopefully what you said is what it is. As it is right now, the trend is that Japan keeps going out at the RO16 for the past few youth tournaments. If Japan could go further, I believe that there would be more scouts watching. The 1999 U20 WC helped with raising the profile of Nakata, Inamoto and Ono, etc. As for the allowing coaching staff to gain valuable experience, I still feel players who played in Europe and then assist in the coaching of European teams for a few years would be better than participating in youth tournaments. E.g if Honda and Hasebe, etc. would serve as part of the coaching team for a European club for a few years and then come back to Japan. The effects would be much better.
Results at youth level tournaments don't mean much to me but I'm forced to note that this failure is part of a long serie and confirms that JNT struggles to reach the round of 8 at WC, whatever the age category. Once again, they were unrecognizable from what I saw in the group stage. Were they tense (even though they appeared to be unmotivated) ? Is there a psychological barrier ? Maybe we don't really know how to prepare the knockout games... Anyway, they weren't up to the task. And it's no longer a question of pure talent or misfortune IMO. South Korea, Uzbekistan, Iran and even Iraq have all reached the round of 8 since the last time we managed to do it. That said, it's true that some of our best players weren't on the pitch yesterday, and some others not even called-up.
Exact same situation as against Korea in the U-20 WC this year. Played better but lost the game. IIRC, Toulon was the only international tournament Japan managed to get past R016 in the past few years. Japan has been getting out in the 1st knockout game for the past few youth tournaments e.g U17, U20 WC, etc. Worrying trend indeed, I think getting the gold medal for Tokyo 2020 will not be easy. Decent chance that Japan will not win the gold medal there.
Tournement play is a craft. Many countries manage to get into a tournement, but the number of countries that manage to get through group stage and a few ko rounds are mostly the usual suspects.
In comparison to previous editions, the Africans crashed out earlier in this tournament. Usually, they go all the way to the final but not anymore. On the other hand it's nice to see the European traditional powerhouses are starting to take this tournament seriously for a change instead of the usual Africa vs Conmebol.
Netherlands, who were schooled by Japan in the first round, made it to the semifinals after winning 4-1 against Paraguay. While, they defeated Nigeria 3-1 in the last 16. I have a bad feeling that Netherlands will win this competition.
Why? If they beat everybody in the ko rounds, they obviously deserve it. You donot win tournements in the group stages. You have to prove your worth in the ko stage.
Meanwhile Mexico won over SK and the semifinal will be Mexico vs Netherlands. I can't stand how stupid is this format with 4/6 3rd place teams that can win the tournament (as Portugal at Euro2016). Anyway Japan didn't deserve nothing special so who cares.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/2330fe90c02a542edb6592aa557b5fbfc1ddb747 JFA are trying to convince FC Barcelona U-18 player, Niko Takahashi to play for Japan. He is eligible for Argentina, Japan, and Spain. He is fluent in Japanese and regularly visits the country, so there is a chance.
U-16 Japan National Team squad - Romania Tour (5/2-12) GK 12 PISANO Alexandre Kouto Horio (Nagoya Grampus U-18) 23 KAMBAYASHI Taisei (Montedio Yamagata Youth) 1 GOTO Wataru (FC Tokyo U-18) DF 19 KOSUGI Keita (Shonan Bellmare U-18) 4 TADOKORO Rio (Kawasaki Frontale U-18) 14 NAGANO Shuto (FC Tokyo U-18) 2 SHIBATA Shotaro (Kawasaki Frontale U-18) 13 HONDA Kotaro (Shonan Bellmare U-18) 18 YAMADA Kai (Maebashi Ikuei High School) 3 MATSUMOTO Haruto (Kashima Antlers Youth) MF 7 NAKAJIMA Yotaro (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Youth) 16 SUGIURA Shungo (Nagoya Grampus U-18) 5 YAMAMOTO Joi (Tokyo Verdy Youth) 20 TAKAHASHI Tomoya (Yokohama FC Youth) 8 YADA Ryunosuke (Shimizu S-Pulse Youth) 6 SATO Ryunosuke (FC Tokyo U-18) FW 10 MICHIWAKI Yutaka (Roasso Kumamoto Youth) 9 ISOZAKI Mark (Omiya Ardija U18) 15 NAWATA Gaku (Kamimura Gakuen High School) 11 TOKUDA Homare (Kashima Antlers Youth) 17 YAMAGUCHI Gota (FC LAVIDA) 2006/2007 kids Expect to see some later this year, for the AFC qualifiers. Someone in the JFA forgot to put the matches, but anyway they are against Norway, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Romania.