No tournament or trophies for JNT in 2020 but it's the Olympic Games' year and if Japan will win something the photo memories will be with that ugly jersey.
I received the following comments on Youtube (Minamino's Liverpool debut video). https://i.imgur.com/AmFnjvo.jpg Is it a bad thing to display the rising sun flag in public? I'm Malaysian of Chinese descent and Malaysia experienced Japan's aggression. However, nobody in the country complains about the flag. I use it as my avatar because it's cool.
Only Koreans think it is some sort of Nazi symbol. Let them say whatever they want. Lol at that Korean saying "Don't hope Japan can match Korea in sports. Know your place." Korea is superior to Japan in sports..... Based on what....?
Maybe that person is right in this regard. I'm not that familiar with other sports but Korea always performs slightly better than Japan in the Olympic Games.
Let me explain. Argentina is an Olympic minnow but they always produce great football, rugby, basketball and tennis players. By my definition, they are a sporting powerhouse. My point is that the ranking on the Olympic medal table doesn't necessarily reflect a country's strength in sports. With all due respect, most of Korea's medals are in sports nobody cares about. I rarely see Korean athletes competing in the traditional core Olympic sports like Athletics, swimming and gymnastics. In athletics, Japan men's 100 meter relay team won the silver in Rio, beating the likes of USA and UK. Japan was leading the race till the last 50m. The fastest human in history, aka Usain Bolt overtook Japan. That's how they finished 2nd. FYI, the number of Asian record holders. men's - Japan 12 Qatar 12 China 9 Bahrain 7 Saudi Arabia 3 Kazakhstan 2 Iran 1 Taiwan 1 Korea 0 women's - China 26 Japan 9 Bahrain 8 Kazakhstan 4 Syria 1 Korea 0 In swimming, Japan finished 4th with 7 medals behind USA, Australia and Hungary on the medal table in Rio. Korea didn't win a single medal. In gymnastics, Japan's Uchimura is largely considered the greatest gymnast in history. Korea is irrelevant in this sport too. Btw, Japan won more medals than Korea in 3 out of the last 5 Olympic Games. Japan is better than Korea in other "real" sports too. Baseball Even Koreans with ultra anti-Japanese feelings know Japan is better. Football Japan has more knockout stage appearances at the WC and continental titles than any other Asian team. The last time Korea won more points than Japan at the WC was in 2006, 14 years ago. 2010 Japan > Korea, 2014 Japan = Korea, 2018 Japan > Korea. Rugby Japan's level is beyond Asia and they have been quite successful at the World Cup. In 2015, they beat South Africa, the joint most successful team in the history of the WC alongside NZ. In 2019, they reached the quarter-final, beating then number 1 ranked Ireland. Basketball Basketball is minor in Japan and they used to be crap. However, since the creation of the professional league in 2016, they have been getting better and better and 2 Japanese players (Hachimura and Watanabe) have played in NBA this season. Other Asian countries don't have a single NBA player. Volleyball Japan won 2 continental titles out of the last 5 editions. The other 3 titles were won by Iran and Korea didn't win a single one. Tennis Nishikori is constantly among the top 10 players in the world. Even lesser-known active Japanese players like Sugita, Daniel and Nishioka have won a ATP title. Korea doesn't have a single player in the top 100 (not 10) and their players have never won ATP titles. Boxing Japan currently has 8 world champions. Korea has none. Inoue is widely regarded as the 3rd best pound for pound boxer in the world after Canelo and Lomachenko. Last year, Inoue v Donaire was chosen as the best fight of the year by major media like BBC, ESPN, the Ring (most prestigious boxing media). And Murata could challenge Canelo in May.
The Rio 100x4 mens Silver medal for me was one of the greatest things I've seen from a Japanese representative team of any sport (up there with the Rugby union side). That was an immense effort I was so damn proud. They were so good, and with a team that had 4 guys none of whom had cracked 10s barrier yet.
As AFC's WC 2022 qualification matches were postponed to 2021, Hajimep Moriyasu suggested tbat the team might hold training camps in Europe during international breaks in October and November. Moriyasu suggested that they might try to schedule one or two friendly matches in Europe in that period too.
Not a bad idea, maybe some venues in South American countries can be considered imo, may get the chance to have friendlies with likes of Brazil, Uruguay, Chile or Argentina,etc. imo.
No way they will go to South America. The reason of the proposed training camps and friendlies to be held in Europe is because most of Japan's NT players are playing in Europe, and this will ease travel burdens, especially with travel restrictions in Europe are still being applied for travelers from many countries outside Europe. Not to mention that Japan already played too much matches against teams from South America in the last few years, and they need to play differnt teams with different playstyles.
It seems the postponement of the AFC's WCQs is a pleasure in disguise. There will be the busy schedule problem to take care of, but I think if FIFA and AFC are wise enough they will cancel the home and away format in the final qualifying round, and instead opt to hold all the matches in a one-leg format in one (neutral) country (most prbably Qatar).
South American teams play with a lot of intensity plus they have more harsher altitude e.g Bolivia's La Paz, etc. Maybe it would be a good experience for the JNT team to experience such a venue at least once in their career? Even though it may not be that relevant in the long run but nevertheless a good experience imo. Well, have to agree on the logistics factor though, it is more easier to the European-based players to stay in Europe and not adjust with factors e.g jet lag and long distance flying, etc. Otoh, I hope some friendlies can be arranged for the U-23 J league players so that they can get some chances to play friendlies to build their chemistry leading to next year's Olympics assuming that it does not get cancelled in the end.
JNT just played Copa America in South America what are you all talking about? And there's COVID-19, they simply can't move here and there carefree especially in countries with a disgrace of sanitary system as the latin ones. Stay Europe, stay safe and have great friendlies against european NTs.
Japan may a friendly match against Mexico in the Netherlands next November: https://www.footballchannel.jp/2020/09/02/post387267/
JFA announced that Japan will play against Cameroon and Cote d'ivoire in October in the Netherlands: http://www.jfa.jp/samuraiblue/news/00025314/
Hm. Not too bad but a mixed type of opponents (I mean two opponents from two different continents) would've been even better.
Sigh, latest rumors are that due to the Covid issues in the Netherlands, the friendlies are at risk. Too bad because it would have been done entirely with the EU based players so it would have been a chance to see a few new faces...
Well, change host country nope? It's an away home vs two african teams. The place doesn't matter, we can even play shut in if necessary.
JFA annonced the kick-off timing and the venue of the Cameroon match: https://www.jfa.jp/national_team/mens_all_2020/news/00025382/ In a relevant news Germany have imposed self-isolation rules on people coming to Germany from some parts of the Netherlands (which might make the inclusion of players playing in Germany very difficult).
Add 2 caps to your NT experience vs valid opponents and being quarantined for 2 weeks in Germany OR ignore you NT duty and keep bench warming/play in B2 matches? Let's see who's deserving to be called for Tokyo2021/Qatar2022 and who's not.