We are getting pummelled by bloody Saudis. Their MF is so darn good. Saito not playing certainly doesn't help either.
From what I can see, Japan NT seems to be playing in a slightly different formation than usual if I am not wrong, they are playing with 3 at the back today. The players seem to be a little not used to it. Also, the usual starters like Kubo and Miyashiro, etc. played as substitutes today. On another note, I am not really very impressed with Mikuni, he does not seem to react very quickly to situations imo.
Yep, we played 3-4-3. With a wide FW didn't cover Saudi's Fullbacks well, we're got outrunned in the flank easily. when Saudis managed to penetrated our final third, our defense shape was already pulled in the ball side without proper covering on the opposite flank, this is happen over and over again because we were always losing 1 on 1 duels. When Saudis pass the ball on the opposite flank, our defence were already carved open. Wakahara's mistakes certainly didn't help. The only positive thing today was Kubo.
U-19 Japan National Team squad, schedule - Brazil Tour(12/13-23) Squad GK OSAKO Keisuke (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) TANI Kosei (Gamba Osaka) DF HASHIOKA Daiki (Urawa Reds) MIYAMOTO Toshiaki (Kashiwa Reysol) TSUNODA Ryotaro (University of Tsukuba) KAWAI Ayumu (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) SEKO Ayumu (Cerezo Osaka U-18) SUGAWARA Yukinari (Nagoya Grampus U-18) KOBAYASHI Yuki (Vissel Kobe U-18) MF SAITO Mitsuki (Shonan Bellmare) NAKAJIMA Motohiko (Cerezo Osaka) GOKE Yuta (Vissel Kobe) YAMADA Kota (Yokohama F・Marinos) HIRAKAWA Rei (F.C. Tokyo) SAITO Koki (Yokohama FC Youth) NISHIKAWA Jun (Toko Gakuen High School) FW TAGAWA Kyosuke (Sagan Tosu) MIYASHIRO Taisei (Kawasaki Frontale U-18) NAKAMURA Keito (Gamba Osaka) KUBO Takefusa (Yokohama F・Marinos) Schedule Mon. 17 December TBC 1st Match vs TBC Tue. 18 December AM Training Wed. 19 December TBC 2nd Match vs TBC Thu. 20 December AM Training Fri. 21 December TBC 3rd Match vs U-19 Brazil National Team *Local Time
Sorry, this tournament already happened so here's the recap. U-18 Japan National Team squad, schedule - Spain Tour (2/2-10)【U-19 International Tournament "Copa del Atlantico"】 Squad GK 1 MITSUI Daiki (Nagoya Grampus U-18) 12 ITAHASHI Yosei (Sagan Tosu U-18) DF 3 YAMASAKI Taichi (Sanfrecce Hiroshima Youth) 5 NAKAMURA Takumi (F.C. Tokyo) 2 NISHIO Ryuya (Cerezo Osaka U-18) 19 INOUE Miki (Ventforet Kofu U-18) 15 UEMATSU Kento (Ichiritsu Funabashi High School) 4 BABA Seiya (Tokyo Verdy Youth) MF 20 NAKAYAMA Riku (Ventforet Kofu) 16 IWAMOTO Sho (Gamba Osaka Youth) 17 MATSUMURA Yuta (Shizuoka Gakuen High School) 6 MATSUOKA Daiki (Sagan Tosu U-18) 8 ODA Yutaro (Vissel Kobe U-18) 7 MATSUMOTO Nagi (Cerezo Osaka U-18) 14 MATSUHASHI Yuan (Tokyo Verdy Youth) 10 YAMAMOTO Rihito (Tokyo Verdy) FW 11 FUJIO Shota (Cerezo Osaka U-18) 9 SAKURAGAWA Soromon (Jef United Ichihara Chiba U-18) 13 SOMENO Itsuki (Shoshi High School) 18 TAKEDA Hidetoshi (Aomori Yamada High School) -> OUT, injured They won 2-1 vs the Canary selection, 6-0 vs Serbia (2 PKs) and lost 4-0 against Spain.
I watched the game vs Spain too, I liked Oda and Nakayama. Btw today Kashiwa at Al Kass meets... Real Madrid. Yes, once again. They drew with PSG and lost with Roma in the group stage.
U-20 Japan National Team Squad, Schedule - Europe Tour (3/18-27 @Poland/Spain) Squad GK MOGI Shu (Cerezo Osaka) OSAKO Keisuke (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) DF TSUNODA Ryotaro (University of Tsukuba) OGIWARA Takuya (Urawa Reds) SEKO Ayumu (Cerezo Osaka) SUGAWARA Yukinari (Nagoya Grampus) KOBAYASHI Yuki (Vissel Kobe) NAKAMURA Takumi (F.C. Tokyo) MF ABE Hiroki (Kashima Antlers) ITO Hiroki (Nagoya Grampus) FUJIMOTO Kanya (Tokyo Verdy) YAMADA Kota (Yokohama F・Marinos) TAKI Yuta (Shimizu S-Pulse) HIRAKAWA Rei (F.C. Tokyo) KIDA Hinata (Avispa Fukuoka) SAITO Koki (Yokohama FC) FW HARA Taichi (F.C. Tokyo) MIYASHIRO Taisei (Kawasaki Frontale) SAKURAGAWA Soromon (Jef United Ichihara Chiba U-18) NISHIKAWA Jun (Toko Gakuen High School) Additional Call-up(3/16) SUZUKI Toichi MF Club: Shonan Bellmare DOB: 30 May 2000 165cm/61kg Thu. 21 March 17:00 International Friendly Match vs U-20 Poland National Team (Stadion Widzew) Sat. 23 March 19:00 International Friendly Match vs U-20 Argentina National Team (Pinatar Arena) Mon. 25 March 12:00 International Friendly Match vs U-20 USA National Team (Pinatar Arena)
Japan’s squad for the U-20 WC: 「FIFA U-20ワールドカップポーランド2019」に臨むU-20日本代表メンバーを発表❗#daihyo #jfa pic.twitter.com/bGznDrJ6CQ— サッカー日本代表 🇯🇵 (@jfa_samuraiblue) May 7, 2019
For easiness of reading: GK 12 MOGI Shu (Cerezo Osaka) 1 WAKAHARA Tomoya (Kyoto Sanga F.C.) 21 SUZUKI Zion (Urawa Reds Youth) DF 15 SUZUKI Toichi (Shonan Bellmare) 4 SEKO Ayumu (Cerezo Osaka) 17 MIKUNI Kenedeiebusu (Avispa Fukuoka) 5 SUGAWARA Yukinari (Nagoya Grampus) 19 KIDA Hinata (Avispa Fukuoka) 3 KOBAYASHI Yuki (Vissel Kobe) 2 HIGASHI Shunki (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) MF 10 SAITO Mitsuki (Shonan Bellmare) 7 ITO Hiroki (Nagoya Grampus) 6 GOKE Yuta (Vissel Kobe) 8 FUJIMOTO Kanya (Tokyo Verdy) 16 YAMADA Kota (Yokohama F・Marinos) 18 TAKI Yuta (Shimizu S-Pulse) 9 SAITO Koki (Yokohama FC) FW 11 TAGAWA Kyosuke (F.C. Tokyo) 13 MIYASHIRO Taisei (Kawasaki Frontale) 20 NAKAMURA Keito (Gamba Osaka) 14 NISHIKAWA Jun (Toko Gakuen High School) Schedule Mon. 13 May 15:00 Training Match vs Ryutsu Keizai University Fri. 17 May 16:00 Friendly Match vs U-20 Colombia National Team FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019 Thu. 23 May 20:30 1st Group Stage Match vs U-20 Ecuador National Team (Bydgoszcz Stadium, Bydgoszcz) Sun. 26 May 15:30 2nd Group Stage Match vs U-20 Mexico National Team (Gdynia Stadium, Gdynia) Wed. 29 May 18:00 3rd Group Stage Match vs U-20 Italy National Team (Bydgoszcz Stadium, Bydgoszcz) as said, Hiroki Abe,Takefusa Kubo and Osako were left out to take part in the Copa America.
Not much personally, given the big absences. Player-wise I'm looking forward to see what Miyashiro, Nakamura and Koki Saito will be able to do on the big stage.
Japan drew 1-1 against Ecuador in the opening game. Good start considering that Ecuador are the South America champions as they defeated Argentina and Colombia and drew with Brazil in the process. It was a much even game, with Ecuador slightly had the upper hand in terms of individual skills and physicality while Japan had the upper hand in terms of team-play and drive. Ecuador was more dominant in the first half while Japan was more dominant in the second. Japan conceded an unfortunate own-goal few minutes before the half-time whistle, and GK Wakahara successfully saved an Ecuador PK in the second half, before Kota Yamada scored the equaliser for Japan. Japan could have won the match in the second half, but the bad finishing and the players’ attitude to rush their shots prevent them from securing a valuable win. Seko in the central defence, Higashi in the RB position, Mitsuki Saito in CM, and Jun Nishikawa in the attacking midfield all had very good performances tonight. Tagawa was Japan’s worst performer tonight, I wish the coach will test Taichi Hara in his place next match or even Kento Nakamura. Jun Nishikawa played way too great providing he is just 17, especially in the physical challenges against a physically superior team like Ecuador, unlike some of other players who backed-off when facing physical challenges despite being 3 years older than Nishikawa.
Japan’s Group is pretty daunting, with Ecuador the South American champions, Italy UEFA’s runner-up, and Mexico CONCACAF’s runners-up, not to speak about Italy’s and Mexico’s rich tradition in international football. It might be the group of death in this tournament, and Japan is viewed as the weakest in this group, so getting few points in this group even if they didn’t qualify will be good. Next game will be against Mexico who lost earlier today against Italy, a win against Mexico will most likely assure Japan of a place in the last 16, so let’s hope Japan will work on their shortcomings for the next 2 games and gave us an entertaining performances and proceed to the knock-out stages.
thanks for your thoughts, i missed this game. tagawa is in absolutely terrible recently. considering he is the veteran of the last u20 wc maybe they thought he would lead the way. i was surprised hara was not even selected in the first place. mizuki ando should have been picked ahead of hara.