I'd gladly welcome him over the current out-of-date, stubborn manager. In other news, China being China, nothing has changed for them, while Vietnam has been doing good so far away against KSA.
Same old favourites picked on “name value”. Same old clueless game plan. Same old lack of goal scoring. Osako, Nagatomo, Shibasaki and co. could tear both their ACL and they’d still be picked on the team sheet over the deserved names.
He will not be called up in a million years but no way Yuma (and any other new player) should accept the call up. They will only be used as the scapegoat for this idiotic manager.
I'm heavily depended on google translate but it seems the player also fed up with the inept able tactic https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/339b261b5bad9d6a18e7cb873c9e159b44882fb5
Actually Moriyasu was part of the committee behind Nishino at the WC 2018 and regarded as the team's brain during that period from what I have heard. Not to mention, Nishino has not been doing well since WC 2018 and did not perform up to expectations as Thailand's coach for the 2022 WC campaign. I think the likes of Takeshi Okada, etc. might be worth a consideration as well imo. Quite like his work leading up to the 2010 WC campaign even if he was criticized for being too defensive at times.
And Sakai requested to leave the team due to fitness reason. It's obvious watching the game that he was exhausted.
You clearly didn't watch Nishino Gamba. There were definitely flaws, but it was true Japanese football in probably its most pure form. Also his 2018 FWC would have normally got him an extension if he wanted it. Again that team had flaws, but god damn it was beautiful football. I'm pretty sure Takeshi Okada is retired, and as a legend
Well Nishino hasn't really performed well after WC 2018 imo, he didn't perform as well as expected when he was coach of Thailand. Okada is in charge of a local team called Imabari FC last from what i've heard if I am not wrong imo. Then again, the workload of a NT is lesser than that of a club team, hence I think overall Okada might still be suitable provided that the JNT is willing to find him for the role and that he is willing to take it. The defensive structure of JNT at that time with Yuki Abe/Endo/Hasebe helming the MF both defensively and offensively and Nagasawa/Tulio as a solid CB duo, etc. meant that he was able to do what he was able to making use of the squad available to him. Then again, only the 1st match thus far, may not be very advised for Moriyasu to step down immediately after just 1 loss.
Judging by Nishino's work as Thailand manager, I think he is an attacking mind coach and prefer his team to play attractive football. However his defenders selection is questionable and Thailand's recent results against traditional rivals like Malaysia or even Indonesia were worsen (don't know why my national team couldn't manage a win against them though lol). So if JFA really considers using Nishino again, lookout for a bumpy road ahead. Also, at 2018 Nishino had a ~1 month training camp and various friendly matches to reset the team, left out all Halihozic's work and implemented his ideas. Japan doesn't have this luxury now. With the schedule of this qualifier from now, each team has at most 3 days each matchday, so it's nearly impossible to reset the play style, only minor tweaks are feasible. Well at the moment even if JFA wants to take drastic measure, their hands are almost tied. Maybe a top quality coach who can ensure the players' respects will get job done. Or suddenly the like of Minamino, Furuhashi, Ito... can hit their top form again, who knows.
Oh and I just remember about Kamada, looks like his early form this season for Frankfurt is not good either. He is a strange case. While he was at SVV his style was really clinical with sublime dribble and finish, people had a feeling he should be a new ace. But his style suddenly changed when he came back to Frankfurt. After some matches, he slowly turned into a creator who prefer to assist other players instead of scoring himself. I read some interviews and he said he though he is not strong or good enough to be a scorer (wtf) so this change is necessary for the team (?) Sure his assisting numbers at Frankfurt were still impressive but I think it's still a waste. May be Kamada the passer is better according to Frankfurt's coach but in national team I prefer Kamada the scorer.
Only saw the last 20 minutes, so can't really say much about the game. But no need to panic, 9 games left, Japan still has the class to qualify easily. But in general IMO Japan's problem isn't scoring. Or the defense either. The 2 "traditional" areas of concern are in relatively good shape. Scoring, with Minamino Japan has an excellent scorer. And in general my impression under Moriyasu so far was that Japan needs less chances to score than in the past. Until Asano comes on, of course, then there's no more scoring... Defense, at the very least the best defense since 2010, but probably better. Thakns mostly to Tomiyasu and Endo. Having a solid defense (at least for Japanese standards) of course is probably the most important thing if you hope to go far in the WC, so a very good foundation to build on. But where Japan IMO right no has problems (don't know if against Oman too, didn't see it, but would be my guess) is creativity. Surprisingly, because that had always been a strenght, a bunch of offensive midfielders that can create, just nobody there to put it in. This time around the creativity doesn't seem to be there. Players with vision, ideas, creativity, fantasy, that can create the extra chance. Shibasaki and Kamada, that's about it. Ito/Doan on the right, no creativity, they seem to play quite well for their clubs you guys say here, but for the NT... Ito has had good 20-30 minutes here and there, Doan not even that. He can hold the ball. Minamino is not a creator, wasn't there this time, Haraguchi, as much as I like him is clearly, not a creator either. To me that's the biggest concern, a certain lack of creativity. All becomes a bit predictable with this team, and then of course they have big problems against defensive teams. Of course don't have the solution either. Hope for Nakajima to miraculously resurrect! Hope Kubo makes big big steps in the next few months. Because right now he isn't there. Other guys... again, maybe Moriyasu discarded somebody like Kiyotake, who would fit the bill, too fast. As for others, don't follow the J League close enough to have a real opinion on this or that guy that should be called up, but the lack of creativity is my biggest concern right now.
Japan need another Kagawa/Kiyotake/Nakata-like MF to come out, thought Kamada can play that role but looks like he is not on form recently. There is only slightly more than a year left hopefully Moriyasu can try out more options in the position.
LOL “no need to panic?” We haven’t even played Saudi Arabia and Australia. Qatar in the Asian Cup final Asian Games AFC U23 championship Copa America Olympics …every time we play any decent opposition Moriyasu has ABSOLUTELY ZERO idea how to manage his team. Just standing clueless on the sideline. Why are we blaming the lack of creativity? It’s not like Oman and even Saudi Arabia or Australia have any especially creative players. Extremely poor player selections, extremely poor (or lack of) substitutions, extremely poor game plan… it’s cutting out any of the individual quality we have in our players.
Minamino also left the team due to injury. Some people even said they want a draw or a lost against China to force Moriyasu out. But if it happens, mathematically the chance for Japan to be disqualified is really high. Last 4 years they managed to be on top due to 2 crucial wins against Saudi Arabia and Australia at home, but with those 2's form now, this task is difficult.
Yep, no need to panic, but if you want to, of course feel free to panic. I won't. Japan has the quality to qualify from this group, even with a 3 point handicap. Even with absolutely no changes, the same core with no additions, Japan can qualify. The quality in this group is still there. The problem then will be at the WC, this team will have problems passing the group stage, solid defence is nice, but creating chances against top competition will be harder with these players, than it would be if there was more creativity in the squad. Which btw is player selection. And the problem in the Asian Cup was exactly that too. Lack of creativity. Nakajima out, Moriyasu wasn't prepared, he had no answer, he was lost. Even though it was obvious by then that the whole offensive setup was incredibly dependent on Nakajima. Japan lacked creativity the whole tournament, reaching the final was built on the defence. Which isn't a bad thing, on the contrary. But if it's only the defence... things get much harder. Find players that are able to create the chances for Minamino to put away.
So basically in the last 24 months Moriyasu hasn't learned anything or changed anything in his full time role as the JNT manager. We have high calibre of Japanese players across Europe. Unfortunately the calibre of Japanese managers remains sh!t as ever.
Absolute s***housery by Moriyasu again. With Kyogo on fire these days, it shouldn't be too much asked to move on. Osako can throw his toys out of the pram if he gets the boot. I couldn't care less.