Asano will not go, 99.99% certain. He was last called up 2 years ago so he's not in Moriyasu's plans unless there is an injury crisis for the strikers. The issue for Kodai Sano is that he's only just come in. I think he should go but I'm not sure Moriyasu thinks the same.
Agreed. Moriyasu is stubborn. And he will choose some players only he thinks should go and no one agrees.
Asano not going would be disappointing. Then again, he hasn't had a good season at Mallorca who are currently 15th in La Liga.
Why not? Before his move to Mallorca, he was a top player and he had a great World Cup in 2022. In attack, there aren't many players I trust except Ueda and Ogawa.
He has not been good at all this season, and between that he is injured. Choosing Asano would only be on old merits. I dont like that. Plenty of other offensive players that deserves it.
Asano has some good games yes but I would say he is one of the worst japanese players ever to play for the JNT. He scored in 136 Bundesliga + La Liga games 16 goals as a striker, that's incredible bad + he has this "breakout season" in his last Bochum year where he scored 6 goals in the league 23/24. Appart from that he scored around 1-2 goals per season. He has the right attitude but a horrible player. And even those 6 goals were below average but that was his best season ever in a top league. Asano never deserve a place in the JNT but I really respect his 2 goals in the games against Germany. But I don't think Asano has any chance this WC, same for Nagatomo.
For me that's what earned him a spot in the national team at least as a solid backup choice, of course a lot has changed since 2022.
Shunsuke Nakamura is now a coach in the Japan National team! Not sure what his role is but I think he will bring good advice and morale to the players
Truth. One thing that is gone. But i think its same overall. Very rarely we see free kick goals today.
Oh really ? I am so excited. Don't forget Makoto Hasebe as our Co Coach + Nakamura, this could be good. Do you guys think Hasebes influence is big ? Maybe that he also has influence on the player picking, tactics/defense. Do you think that's one of the reasons JNT is having a good run the last 1-2 years ?
Hasebe has done some good work at Eintracht Frankfurt with the U-21s after retirement so it could be important to have him.
Nah, imo Moriyasu is the helmsman and he answers directly to Miyamoto. Hasebe and Nakamura are probably training field/locker adviser/ supervisor type of coachs. I bet Shunsuke can still score by FK whenever he want. It would be even useful in a WC match when near the end of the game we get a FK at the edge of the box.
That's basically it, there are there more as supervisors than tacticians and planners. But having Shunsuke if he can teach free kicks will be crucial especially against teams that won't offer up a lot of space for offensive moves like the Netherlands.
But are you sure ? I mean I have the feeling since Hasebes is Co Coach, JNT is way more stronger in the defensive compact play and Moriyasus last pick ups for the friendlys were quite good. Almost no brain farts. Maybe a Hasebe also has his influence on that ?
Suzuki might miss the World Cup, he fractured his collarbone over the past weekend while playing for Freiburg against Wolfsburg.
That's going to be a huge problem with Minamino already missing and they both play roughly in the same position.