Well I don't know a lot about OG qualifications outside of Japan but Uefa > Israel, Caf > Mali and Conmenbol > Paraguay, aren't they all underdog/outsider team in their federation? Maybe Paraguay less than the others but Japan is a top tier nation in Afc so they have some small advantage nope?
Israel came top 4 in Euro under 21. And will probably be booed all contest long. Mali came third in Africa u 23 and Paraguay won the whole thing . Maybe group is stronger than at first glance.
Getting out of the Group Stages in the Olympics is doable for Japan, main point is their 1st Knockout stages opponent might be quite tough. Thus, I feel that Oiwa should try to get as many of the European-based players e.g Sano/Saito/Fukui/Yuito Suzuki and hopefully Kubo as well. Luckily Euro 2024 is taking place at the same time, thus there might be alot of players not wanting to take part in both competitions.
Euro ends like 10 days before this one. But of course yeah. Not many go from that to Olympics. To tight
It's so hard to say with the Olympics... Honduras reached the semifinal in 2014, as have Iraq and USA recently.... African teams did very well for a while there. Paraguay made the final couple of Olympics back... I'd say Japan has a good chance in the group stages but needs to avoid Spain in the quarterfinals. After that, who knows? I'd say France would be immediate favorites to win it all, especially if the bring Mmmpoppe....
To bad for France the european championship is so close. I doubt they can bring anyone of those players. Even if its at home.
GK 1 KOKUBO Leo Brian (SL Benfica/Portugal) 23 SUZUKI Zion (Sint-Truidense VV/Belgium) 12 NOZAWA Taishi Brandon (FC Tokyo) DF 16 UCHINO Takashi (Fortuna Dusseldorf/Germany) 21 OHATA Ayumu (Urawa Red Diamonds) 3 NISHIO Ryuya (Cerezo Osaka) 24 BANGNAGANDE Kashif (FC Tokyo) 2 HANDA Riku (Gamba Osaka) 4 SEKINE Hiroki (Kashiwa Reysol) 15 SUZUKI Kaito (Jubilo Iwata) 5 CHASE Anrie (VfB Stuttgart/Germany) 22 TAKAI Kota (Kawasaki Frontale) MF 20 HIRAKAWA Yu (FC Machida Zelvia) 25 MATSUMURA Yuta (Kashima Antlers) 10 SATO Kein (SV Werder Bremen/Germany) 6 KAWASAKI Sota (Kyoto Sanga FC) 18 SAITO Koki (Sparta Rotterdam/Netherlands) 7 YAMAMOTO Rihito (Sint-Truidense VV/Belgium) 8 FUJITA Joel Chima (Sint-Truidense VV/Belgium) 14 MITO Shunsuke (Sparta Rotterdam/Netherlands) 17 MATSUKI Kuryu (FC Tokyo) 11 SANO KODAI (NEC Nijmegen/Netherlands) FW 9 FUJIO Shota (FC Machida Zelvia) 19 HOSOYA Mao (Kashiwa Reysol) 13 ARAKI Ryotaro (FC Tokyo) Fri. 7 June 17:00 International Friendly Match ※behind closed doors vs U-23 USA National Team (Compass Minerals National Performance Center) Tue. 11 June 19:00 vs U-23 USA National Team (Children's Mercy Park)
Would replace Kein Sato with perhaps Taichi Fukui imo as Fukui seems to have a run of games for Portimonese FC recently.
Yes Sato wasn't good last time but he plays in completely different positions, so that wouldn't be possible. I also would've put Fukui maybe in place of Kawasaki or Yamamoto
Rihito Yamamoto is not doing bad for STVV this season imo, plus he is among the better set-pieces taker. Perhaps Fukui in place of Kawasaki, saw Fukui a bit this season he seems pretty composed with the ball. It is a pity Kubo isn't here he might have provided a different dimension to the team.
There will be another callup turn. Remember that a few overage players can be brought to the olympics
Yeah, it's kind of strange if this is the final squad, no Kubo, Y.Suzuki, the central defenders and central midfielders selections are quite weak, too many players with similar styles on the wings... For overage options, my choices are Tomiyasu, Ao Tanaka and Ogawa.
yeah the overage players will likely be jleague players. Kubo will not be called up, it was already said. I guess Sociedad doesn't want to release him and also he's part of the A team.
OKey , would have been nice to see at least one really good european based. When will the squad be announced?
Yuito Suzuki should join the Olympics Squad imo, waste of Kubo feel that he should join. Taichi Fukui should be considered as well imo.