Seriously wtf are you talking about...? Moriyasu has fielded 24 different players in the starting lineup in the last 3 games... Onaiwu was pretty effective as a target man against physically strong Serbian defenders. He could be a successor to Osako.
Yeah Moriyasu is never my favorite coach but his management plan recent matches are acceptable. The plan is clear and easy to follow: first team in official matches no matter how weak the opponent, experiments in friendly match or when the 1st place in group round is secured. Both the senior and u24 teams are showing positive signs this year. Although some senior players are still hit or miss: Haraguchi, Minamino (somewhat)...
lol, NT still has a big problem after Okazaki's retirement if Osako is now the best striker and the depth are Onaiwu and Suzuki... Pretty depressing stuff and the decline in quality is astonishing. The real problem is that it seems almost like Okazaki was just once in every 30 years fluke when it comes to Japanese strikers. I only hope that Antlers' youngster duo of Ueda and Araki will keep on developing their skills as a simple thought of NT FW roster for the WC would look like Osako, Suzuki, Onaiwu and Asano sends shivers down my spine if Yuma (the only Japanese FW right now who's on the rise at reasonable level) is out of sight.
Yeah what is your point? The 24 different players includes Sho Sasaki (What are the reasons for giving him game time?), Get Shoji (Playing for a terrible Gamba Osaka), Takuma Asano (Wasted golden opportunities to score in all of the games), Kosuke Nakamura (Who has played zero games since transferring to Portugal). What can we learn and what benefit is there by giving Osako, Nagatomo etc valuable game time in an official match against the likes of Mongolia and Tajikistan.
All hope rests on Ayase Ueda. I think Daichi Hayashi is promising if given a chance. Waiting for Miyashiro to have a breakthrough season at Tokushima.
Traditionally, scoring isn't the top priority for JNT centre forwards. Japan needs more Osako type players who can keep the ball and win in the air to create chances for other attackers. When Japan succeeds at the WC, they always have reliable target man players. 2002-Suzuki, 2010-Honda and 2018-Osako. Unlike Okazaki, Osako is a mediocre player in Bundesliga but Japan is a different animal with him up front. Maybe more important than the likes of Endo, Tomiyasu and Kamada.
That might’ve been the case in the past but it would be nice for once to have a reliable source of goals from a Japanese striker and not always rely on the ten other players in MF/DF to score.
My problem is that the plan is stupid. Mix it up instead of this pointless separation. You want to build one team, not 2. Just play a mix of starters/established reserves/new guys each game. Well, until tomorrow, then the serious qualification starts I'd be for starters... Of course the team now won't fundamentally change, which is right, would be pointless to call up 15 new players 18 months before the WC (if they qualify... normally yes, but you never know)
Several J-Leagers played for the NT during 2021. Shoji. Nakatani. Tanguchi. Yamane. Matsubara. Ogawa. Inagaki. Kawabe. Esaka. Sakamoto. Wakizaka. Furuhashi. Onaiwu. Not to mention Harakawa who was called-up but had to withdraw due to injury, and Hatanaka and Sasski who were fringe NT players before 2021. As for testing different players and giving players chances, well, apart from Osako, Minamino, and the back four, every other position has not been assigned automatically to a certain player in the past 3 years. The defensive midfield has been a sort of a musical chairs play, with players going up and down the pecking order. At some point Endo was the third option behind Shibasaki and Hashimoto, while now he is the undisputed first choice. Hashimoto was the second choice at the same time, while now he dropped to the fourth choice (or even the fifth). Doan was the undisputed first choice right-side attacking midfielder, but a series of experiments with Kubo and Ito put Doan"s position at risk. Currently, Junya Ito is the first-choice. As for the left-side attacking midfielder it was Nakajima for the first 2 years, now it is Kamada, with both Furuhashi and Haraguchi getting decent time there as alternatives. As for the striker position, Moriyasu already tested up to 10 players there, with most of them backfired. Muto, Kitagawa, Nagai, Musashi Suzuki, Kamada, Minamino, Furuhashi, Okazaki, Asano, and most recently Onaiwu. Onaiwu is the only one who showed promise in this position, while Muto and Kitagawa started for 4 consecutive matches in the 2019 Asian Cup (while Osako was injured) and did not really impress. Bear in mind that Osako missed at least 4 matches per year either because of injury or because of club commitments, and in his absence Moriyasu gave full chances to others and they backfired. Hence, it is hardly Moriyasu's fault. As for the CB position, Yoshida and Tomiyasu are the undisputed CB pair, but Moriyasu tried different alternatives. In the early 2 years of his tenure. Makino, Miura, and Hatanka were the options tried alongside Ueda (behind Yoshida and Tomiyasu). However, recently he tried Nakatani, Shoji, and Tanighchi there, and dropped Makino altogether, Miura did not receive a call-up since 2019, while Hatanaka was overlooked for the last series of WCQ and friendly matches. This is a good amount of experiments. Compare this with how Zacherooni kept calling-up Inoha for the majority of his tenure, while he neglected testing other better options. Almost 50% of the starting line-up positions has seen fierce competition under Moriyasu, with no player guaranteed of his position, except the other 50% which are also witnessing some experiments and testing of new players and tactics. Changing for the sake of changing is pointless. The team have to develop harmony and rhythm. So far, the pace of testing new players is very good and reasonable compared to Zacherooni's era for example.
Not nearly enough. In the March games I think there was one where he indeed finally mixed it a bit, but otherwise? Ok, didn't see the game vs U24, maybe there. For the rest he's consistent with his starters vs reserves thing.
Yeah sure still doesn’t justify Sasaki getting consistent game for the JNT and why Shoji was called up after being absolutely awful for Gamba.
Just curious, who do you guys want in your group for the 3rd round of the WC 2022 Qualifications? For me, it's: - Japan - Australia - UAE - Iraq - Oman - Lebanon I wish Japan don't have to face those pesky middle eastern teams, but hey, it's not their fault if other Asian team from the Asia's different regions are not up to the task.
IMHO Iran is the only team at the level of Japan right now. But if I have to pick: - Australia - Saudi Arabia - China (I'd love to win there) - Oman - Lebanon
You really think Iran is that strong now ? Sure they woke up and ended the qualifiers great but had a slow start. And pretty close with both Iraq and Bahrain. But they are always hard to play against.
Do you know there was Japanese/German player Shinta Appelkamp in Germany's 2021 U-21 EURO winning squad? He was born and rasied in Japan until 16. What does the JFA think of him?
Okazaki played as a sole striker in Okada/Aguirre/Halilhodzic era but he was nowhere near as good in that role as Osako. I agree with yudum. Real football isn't PES. Team chemistry is much more important in real life than it is in a video game. Calm down. I was just disagreeing with your argument that Moriyasu always sticks to the same players. Players' club form is totally a different topic.
Not really. First, Japan beat Iran 3-0 when Japan was in a rebuilding phase and Iran was at its their peak with a decent manager. Second, the difference in squads between Japan and Iran is like night and day. The only position they are better is centre forward yet the then 20-year-old Tomiyasu shut down Azmoun easily in 2019. Itakura (named in the 20-man shortlist for Erediviisie player of the year), Doan (best attacker in a Bundesliga team), Sugawara (played 33 games for AZ) and even Morioka (one of the best MFs in Jupiler league but never gets called up) etc would start for Iran if they were Iranian. Last year, in an interview with a German newspaper, he revealed his desire to play for Japan. There is another Japanese-German international player named Mio Nagata (known as Mio Backhaus in Germany). He has played for U-15, 16 and 17 Germany since moving to Bremen from Japan in 2017.
I would prefer in the order of - Australia (they really have regressed in terms of individual quality of their players) - South Korea (apart from Son Heung Min we should be okay) - Iran (I haven't watched them enough recently to comment) Really don't like the idea of playing Saudi Arabia. China is definitely beatable but I don't want our players ending up with surgery afterwards.
He looked excellent in the second half of the season and if he continues to play this well for the next 12-18 months then he'll get signed up by the bigger Bundesliga clubs and Germany NT won't be too far away. But IHMO it's a big "if". From what I've read his desire to play for JNT is more than just lip service to the Japanese media.
It's almost a repeat of 2018 WC Qualifications and yeah, this should be an easy group to qualify from. My only fear would be the Chinese Kung Fu team, not that they beat Japan but the dirty tactics they always use against them. My prediction for the final ranking of the group would be: 1- Japan 2- Australia 3- Saudi Arabia 4- Vietnam 5- China 6- Oman I predict Vietnam to be capable of making some upsets in this group but will end up getting the short stick in the end. As for the other group, it's like Korea against the Middle East haha but I don't believe they will have much trouble against them except maybe against Iran.
Not the same again.... Would have much preferred South Korea. Probably stronger than Australia, but this feels like the 727th time in a row it's Australia.. (yes yes, they haven't been in Asia that long, but still, since then it's always been that group no?) Then UAE, the spark there seems gone, looks like they are on a downward spiral, Saudi Arabia still beatable for Japan, 4 points from 2 games at least have to be expected, but UAE easier. Then hoped for Iraq. IMO they looked very good vs Qatar at the Asian Cup, would have liked to see them play. (yes, could stream, no I won't) Oman-Vietnam on the other hand is ok. But really hoped for South Korea. Not those boring Aussies again.