Why they're playing in Europe is weird to me on this. I assume its to minimise travel for players but frankly even 1 border could mean a new quarantine requirement anywhere in the world.
Japan's NT squad for friendlies against Cameroon & Cote d'ivoire: GK: Kawashima Gonda Schmidt DF: Nagatomo Yoshida H.Sakai Muroya Ueda Anzai Itakura Tomiyasu Sugawara MF: Haraguchi Shibasaki W.Endo J.Ito Minamino Kamada Nakayama Miyoshi Doan T.Kubo FW: Okazaki Osako M.Suzuki 国際親善試合(ユトレヒト）#SAMURAIBLUE（日本代表）メンバー⌚10/9（金）21:00KO（日本時間）🆚カメルーン🇨🇲📺日本テレビ系にて全国生中継⌚10/13（火）23:45KO（日本時間）🆚コートジボワール🇨🇮📺TBS系列 地上波にて全国生中継／CS・TBSチャンネル2にて録画放送#daihyo #新しい景色を2022 pic.twitter.com/L9pefN0kT8— サッカー日本代表 🇯🇵 (@jfa_samuraiblue) October 1, 2020
Interesting Okazaki is in the squad. Also I hope Itakura gets some minutes in these games alongside Wataru Endo in CM.
I'm guessing that Inui may not be playing in the next WC due to his age plus there are some negative responses to his alleged scandal earlier. Nagatomo and Okazaki may be there to provide some leadership
I'd want to see Itakura at CB, where he's been excelling for Groningen. They just downed Ajax with a clean sheet this weekend.
That's fair enough and I somewhat agree. I think however we need a tough CM more than we need good CBs right now as there's at least 4 decent to good options. At CB we need a partner for Tomiyasu, of which there's several reasonable candidates.
Endo is the presumptive starter for the holding mid role, and Nakayama has been in good form lately as well. Unfortunately they couldn't call up Hashimoto for these matches, but domestic-based players like Yamaguchi, Morita, Ao Tanaka, Fujita, et al. should come into play in the future as well.
It will be interesting to see if Japan will schedule friendlies in Europe in next November. There are some European teams still free for November's first matchday such as: Ireland, Wales, Bosnia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Norway. It seems Russia is free too, and it is not sure both England and Portugal will be free in this matchday. While Mexico still did not schedule any friendly matches in November, likewise are other teams from the CONCACAF. A decent European team +:Mexico in November will be a perfect set of friendlies.
Hi all ! Is there a Live Games section here? And does anyone have a stream for the game against Cameroon? Thanks !
So that was boring, I saw from around minute 40 onwards. In the 2nd half with the 3-4-3 the connection between the defence and midfield playing out the back was pretty bad. Also Junya Ito again always looked good today. I do hope he starts he's good value. Yoshida-Tomiyasu combo looked quite strong today. Winning their duels and looking overall in good shape. I'm glad Nakayama got a full 90min to get in the swing of things, he has a lot to improve but he wasn't physically pushed around too much which was good.
The second half was a huge improvement compared to the first. Yes, Junya Ito shall start ahead of Doan who is too predictable. Yuta Nakayama played really well and made some key interceptions, unlike Shibasaki who was overwhelmed by Cameroon's extreme physical play Nakayama needs to improve his passing skills, but apart from this shortcoming he was a beast in the centre of the field, which is a surprise given his previous performances with the senior NT in this position. Playing against such African teams is a great opportunity to test how the team and the players are performing against extreme physical and high-speed teams. For example, Shibasaki and Doan were clearly struggling against an opponent with such a play style. I think Moriyasu should have subbed in Musashi Suzuki for Osako, as Musashi is more capable of dealing with such opponents. Let's hope Moriyasu took notes from today's match and makes amendments to his team selection and formation. One sure thing: Osako will not play against Cote d'Ivoire as he will left the NT camp and rejoin his club.
Only the last 20 minutes looked lively, not a lot of free-flowing back and forth exchanges as in an intense game definitely. Junya Ito was good, Doan and Shibasaki were pretty average overall. Rest was decent. Wonder if there are alternatives in Yoshida's position to partner Tomiyasu as it is difficult to tell if Yoshida will be available in Russia if his form by then is not that good as he will be 34 by then. Itakura and Naomichi Ueda are viable options. Maybe J-leaguers like Koki Machida and Shunta Tanaka, etc. can be tried as well.
I'm sure Itakura has solidified his status as the #3 CB of Japan and now he is in pole position to replace Yoshida. He has had incredible stats in the Eredivisie. https://www.sofascore.com/player/ko-itakura/790989 Total duels won - 86% Ground duels won - 91% Air duels won - 83% At this rate, he will attract attention from the top 5 league clubs.
Its an okey result. Can we really expect more from certain players at this point? I mean they havent performed for club or NT for like over a year. At some point you need to try something new. I am talking about players like Shibasaki and Doan. What have they really done to remain starters? Nothing.