How the team had been set-up is uncannily Yokouchis. Very enjoyable to watch. The movement is a very well-coordinated, very efficient utilization of space.
Agree but then it is Jamaica. Hopefully, Japan can do it in the Olympics against the likes of Mexico, Nigeria, Brazil, Germany and France, etc. Nakayama surprisingly was so good yesterday in comparison to during Copa America, etc. He was active on both the offensive and defensive aspects, especially with his interceptions. Hopefully, he can gain a starting spot in his club as soon as possible.
Squad for the AFC U-23 championship; ＧＫ Ryosuke Kojima. Kosuke Osako. Kosei Tani. ＤＦ Tsuyoshi Watanabe. Koki Machida. Yugo Tatsuta. Makoto Okazaki. Tayio Koga. Daiki Hashioka. ＭＦ Yuki Soma. Tsukasa Morishima. Shunta Tanaka. Keita Endo. Reo Hatate. Ryotaro Meshino. Taishi Matsumoto. Daiki Sugioka. Ao Tanaka. Daiki Suga. Mitsuki Saito. Kyosuke Tagawa. ＦＷ Koki Ogawa. Ayase Ueda. AFC U-23選手権タイ2020（1.8~26）U-23日本代表 メンバー発表※発表会見のライブ配信は中止となります。 ご了承ください。#jfa #daihyo #U23日本代表 pic.twitter.com/pNIKnaFsrS— サッカー日本代表 🇯🇵 (@jfa_samuraiblue) December 29, 2019 ——————————————————— • A squad of 23 players, among them only Meshino plays in Europe. The other 12 European-based players are excluded from the squad: Tomiyasu - Doan - Kubo - Miyoshi - Itakura - Nakayama - Abe - Maeda - Sugawara - Nakamura - Ito - Yamaguchi. If Leobrian Kokubo is considered too, then it will be 13 European-based players missing the squad. • Other notable absences from the J.League are: Tomoki Iwata, Teruki Hara, Yuto Iwasaki, Kaoru Mitoma, Takuma Ominami, and Aymu Seko. Not to mention fringe players such as: Toichi Suzuki, Daiki Kaneko, Kota Watanabe, Shunki Higashi, Kakeru Funaki, Tomoya Wakahara, Takahiro Ko, and Yuya Fukuda. • 17 out of 23 players in this squad are already capped with Japan’s senior national team. This left only 8 players in this squad who are uncapped with the senior NT: Kojima, Tani, Machida, Okazaki, Hatate, Meshino, Matsumoto, and Saito.
Who would you suggest? Honestly, I can’t think of better attacking options, giving the difficulty of calling-up European-based players. Or are you complaining about the performances of the called-up forwards as uninspiring and not getting better? Hence, you are complaining about their performances and not about the overlooking of players who you might think as better options,
Haha, kinda neither, to be exact. I'm sighing at the fact that here we are, with another generation, and yet even at U23 Japan can't produce a single forward that looks convincing, at least so far. I'm waiting to see how Hatate shapes up in Jleague personally, but he's not exactly the hardworking type. In regards to the callups, I'd switch Ogawa for Ichimi probably, but that's it...
Pardon my ignorance about the u23 squad but is this Japan's best? I'd love seeing them win the tournament for the 2nd time despite being automatically qualified as hosts. Their group seems to be difficult tbh.
Japan’s starting line-up against Saudi Arabia: GK: Osako. DF: Watanabe - Okazaki - Koga. MF: Hashioka - S. Tanaka - A. Tanaka - Sugioka. FW: Hatate - Ogawa - Meshino,
Saudi was the better team in the 1st half. They ran a lot and may be out of gas in the 2nd half though. Hashioka and Siguoka are the most boring wb couple from Japan in recent years. And this u23 Japan is extremely boring.
Playing like this and I'm not surprise if Japan is eliminated after the group stage. If they manage to go through, and they face Thailand, I will cheer for the Thai even if they are our rival, because their football is much more enjoyable.
I think it's fine to criticize the current team but I'm not sure about the criticism about the SB, the previous gen was bad as well (and bad overall save for early 2016). A stupid mistake once again ruins it all but over the years, not much has changed in terms of mentality and attitude. Thankfully there's nothing at stake.
The Saudis seem to have gotten Japan's number recently from club level to national teams level. Yes, Japan won against them in Asian Cup last year but even in that game Saudi was playing better. Long gone the time when Japanese teams ran circles around them. Still, there are two more games but they're gonna be really difficult and if they manage to qualify they'll probably meet Nishino's Thailand.
The flow of these 2 games are similar. In the previous one, only set pieces and Saudi strikers' eagerness saved Japan's ass. In recent years, every time Japan fielded somewhat defensive formation, their overall game were actually getting worse. They always struggle when the opponent has direct and fast players who aren't afraid to bring the ball right through the middle with pace. The defensive formation doesn't bring any save feeling at all, while the attacking is clearly suffered.
How embarassing. Classic Moriyasu saving his last two subs until the last two minutes. Like I’ve been saying, this whole 2020 dream is going to end in tears and embarrassment.
It's more frustrated because it's getting worse. At least the last generation of Muroya and the blonde guy on the left (don't remember the name, too many blonde lb in japan) can provide decent crosses or long shots when in good positions despite being average in defense. Sugioka and Hashioka didn't show this ability last game. (What's wrong with Hashioka by the way, he's capable of more than that) Well, at least you still have options of converting Yuki Soma to be full time sb/wb, or hoping Sugawara finds his ideal position, or a funny idea of Tomiyasu on the wing
I think that's the major issue. Tactically, it's pretty clear: 3-6-1 and a quick dose of counter attacks tied with some ball possession. But beyond that, it's hard to say.
Considering the length of time Moriyasu has been the manager, the number of games he’s been given (Toulon, Asian Games, AFC U23 and friendlies) and the depth of quality players currently in this generation it shows how bad he’s been when the team is still lacking direction. Tactically, 3-6-1 and make sure to bring on the substitutes as late as possible when behind in the score line.
almost full turnover vs Syria: GK: Osako DF: Watanabe - Okazaki - Machida MF: Hashioka - Matsumoto - Saito- Soma FW: Morishima - Ueda - Meshino