Did Muto deserve the call-up? I haven't watched the J-League that much recently. His stats are decent, but I get the feeling that he's being hyped up because of his looks. Every article with his name has the word イケメン in it. I get the feeling that he was called up because Uchida was injured in order to fill the "idol" spot.
He's near the top of the scoring charts in his first professional season with 9 goals in all competitions...you're overthinking things considering that most casual fans have no idea who he is, and he's not even guaranteed to see significant minutes in these matches.
Muto is wild. He's really athletic and instinctive, he's not polished right now but this is enough for him to stand out. Someone like Hirotaka Mita is probably more talented, but his game is so much more plain that he sits on a bench.
That's my point. His inclusion is to get those casual fans. Even though he's not guaranteed minutes, I see his name on articles daily. They are hyping him up a lot. I just want to know if it is justified, or if there are better players who were overlooked because they aren't as popular.
I don't know about his looks (but I agree - I had seen him in TV shows labeled as 'ikemen') but he scores lots of goals in his first pro season and at the same time he's Keio University student. Combine all that and you'll get pretty rare case... No wonder his agency tries to get as much as possible from him right now.
There's plenty of better and more experienced players in J. League IMO, but he's the new coach, he has the right to experiment and try the players who made an impression on him, maybe one or two would play well enough to become regulars. I see no reasons not to give him the benefit of doubt.
Which players you think should not be called up? Usami is a different player to a lot of the players in the JNT, he can actually do well as a CF in the JNT imo.
Aguirre is reportedly considering enrolling in a Japanese language course. He might have to invent new terminology to satisfy his appetite for expletives...
i dont understand why japan and australia would organize a friendly so close to the AC you never see competitive top teams do that leading up to a world cup my only guess is that japan figure we wont make it out of the group stage and that we will provide a nice little warmup for them on route to asian cup glory!
...now where do we take that kind of arrogance from ? I don't know about Australia's friendlies but I rather see it as the only chance for us to test against a strong AFC member prior to AC (with our annual 'friendly' declined by our neighbours).
Very fascinating stuff. Sotaro Yasunaga describes Aguirre's coaching style and tactics: 2 NT friendlies were consistent with Aguirre's signature counterattacking style vs. Uruguay = Osasuna, Minagawa = Savo Milosevic vs. Venezuela = Espanyol, Okazaki = Sergio Garcia Shibasaki = Joan Verdú Lots of variation within the 4-3-3 framework. But Aguirre has worked mostly with 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, and should know that 4-3-3 is uncommon in Japan....why? Maybe he wants to establish a clear style distinct from Zaccheroni, or try something new in his sojourn away from the Hispanophone sphere. Individual mistakes led directly to goals given, but proximate causes are failure to support possession and pressure opposing ballholders Aguirre may be deliberately keeping things simple and delegating judgment to the players, with a few simple instructions like switching to 3-4-3 in attack. Looks like he's taking the long view in building the team 1st goal vs. Venezuela was signature Aguirre; long ball picked up by Muto who scored. Also the buildup in the back with 3 CBs will likely be in a wide formation, with the CM avoiding dropping back to receive the ball. Aguirre prefers to play with 2 players at CM/DM, with 1 or even both of them designated destroyers cleaning up on defense. It's even conceivable that he'll deploy both Morishige and Yoshida at DM against powerhouses. Aguirre is a master at picking up broken teams and saving them from relegation with his counterattacking tactics. He's highly regarded in Spain despite his style being decidedly untrendy. Espanyol hated Atlético's 8 match winning streak by giving Diego Costa and David Villa no space to operate. Unclear if Aguirre has tricks up his sleeve for defeating bunkering Asian opponents, as he's generally tasked with smaller teams in La Liga Curious to learn how he will develop Japanese players and the details of his mission as handed down by the JFA
Nice to read such a feedback from such an experienced player who was among the first Japanese players to play in Spain.
This makes absolutely zero sense as it was an individual effort, and it even sounds funnier after Aguirre said that he doesn't want to give too much detailed instructions to the players on the pitch (and he said it in reference to that goal haha). It was all about instincts and something only someone with great confidence could've done...
Maybe he meant: the score was made by Muto in confidence mode, the development of the action till his shoot was made by Aguirre directives.
JEF Chiba News @chibanews 23 min Japan national team assistant coach, Stuart Gelling will visit Fukuda-Denshi Arena for tomorrow's game. Good chance, boys! #LastRT It confirms that even J2 is scouted. Nice.