I could not stop thinking about the next wc other day. Who will be out , who will be intstrumental and who will may still be there , and the stars. Still 4 years and its of course some what of impossible to guess but its fun. Gonda. 37, out Schmidt, 34, may be there Yamane, 32, maybe Taniguchi, 35, out Itakura, 30. not sure Nagatomo , 39, out. Tomiyasu, 27, back bone. Sakai, 36, out. Yoshida, 37, out. Ito, 27, instrumental. Endo, 33, captain material? Shibasaki, 34, out. Doan 28, instrumental. Mitoma, 29, star player Minamino , 32, not sure , most likely squad player. Kubo, 25, star player. Morita, 31, also captain material. Ito, 33, important brick hopefully. Kamada , 29, star hopefully, needs revenge from WC 2022. Tanaka, 27, not sure. Soma, 29, not sure. Asano, 31, not sure, probably out? Machino,26, hopefully one of the strikers? Ueda 27, not sure anymore, good in Belgium, cant score on the biggest stage. Maeda, 28, important squad player. As I said very difficult to guess here, but this it what if feels like now. And these players should be added. Sugawara, 25, hopefully the new japanese star wingback Hatate, 28, star player. Furuhashi, 32, its a shame he will be 32. Hayashi, 29, if he continue his great development. Fill in this slightly autistic post guys.
I'm sure Tanaka will be there, and Itakura as well. Machino needs to be watched- we'll see how he does. I hope Moriyasu realizes Hatate and Kyogo are team players, and are needed.
I gotta say, Shogo Taniguchi's performance in 2022 was for me awesome. Talk about stepping up to the moment. Gets huge props forever for those 2 games he played. Of course he won't play in 2026, but who cares. Wonderful pinnacle to his career and I hope he makes millions in Qatar haha as reward.
Well, I think more short -term... Asian Cup. No excuse not winning it. GK Gonda-Schmidt-Tani While looking at Nakamura, Suzuki and possibly others. I still prefer Nishikawa to Gonda, but ok, no sense in changing now, they are roughly the same level, Gonda younger, if anything for 22 Nishikawa would have been an option. Defence: Yoshida and Nagatomo out. Sakai could be kept around for the Asian Cup, but he seems to have lost a step or 2 to me. 2018 before the WC you could have made a case for him being the best Japanese player, 2022 not. Plus is the desire still there? Coming back to Japan while I'm sure he still had opportunities in Europe. So I'd have no problem with dropping him. RB: Sugawara, Yamane, Muroya LB: Nakayama, but he's never really convinced me to be honest, temporary solution, not long term. Ogawa? Not playing much in Portugal. So Nakayama plus some guy I don't know yet probably. No, don't play a 3 man defense with and play Mitoma on the left with tons of defensive duties. CD: Here IMO Japan is set, Itakura-Tomiyasu starters, Ito, Taniguchi, Seko reserves Midfield&attack: I don't really expect many changes here. Mitoma finally as starter. Ito IMO one of the losers of the WC, he showed his limits, defensively he was horrible. Blame Moriyasu mostly, you don't play Ito as RWB. Still, he showed his limits, but he's Moriyasu's great discovery, he'll stay. Most likely as a starter, or on and off starter taking turns with Doan. Minamino another loser, not his fault, after misusing him on the left for ages, Moriyasu just dropped him, instead of trying him as CF at some point. He'll be in the squad for a while I guess, but won't win back a starting position. Left Mitoma, middle Kamada, right Ito/Doan, CF one of Maeda-Asano-Machino-Ueda-Furuhashi-Hayashi-Hosoya (he's going to get called sooner or later too) Of course Asano will be there for the 26/30/34 World Cups, as long as Moriyasu is in charge, Asano is there. I still have a problem with the right side though, I'm Ito hater number one here, speed only, limited otherwise, and don't think much of NT-Doan either finally. For the NT he has mostly disappointed, Ito rightly got the starting position from him, the big exception of course the WC, but only the games he came in as sub. Super sub him! But of course still try him as starter, maybe with a more creative midfield than he had to deal with so far, with Mitoma and Kamada he plays like he does for Freiburg. Otherwise try Kubo on the right. Mitoma-Kamada-Kubo to me looks fine, but probably not to Moriyasu. He'll probably go with Furuhashi on the left, Soma on the right or some idiocy. Drop Soma anyway. Hatate, Furuhashi and Joel Chima Fujita, IMO the 3 guys that Moriyasu has to integrate into the team, Furuhashi as CF, not winger. Fujita, somehow surprised he's still in Yokohama, not in Europe yet. But we'll see the first indications in March, let's see if he manages to make at least the obvious new calls, Sugawara and Hatate.
I really liked J. Ito, myself. Simple, yet devastating. Works hard, and his decision making in the World Cup was quite okay. Here's a controversial take: one CB in the roster should be picked based on height and strength alone. Maaya Sako if he develops to an OK level?
Ito was maybe the best player/most important player in the WC for Japan. Assited Maedas Offside goal against Germany. Almost scored against Germany after Neuers immortal save. Assited Doans Equalizer against Spain with a great area duel won. Ito was created almost every chance/attack Japan has at the World Cup. Without Ito Japan would never gone that far. By the way from ratings for example the Kicker magazine, Ito was Japans best player.
You watched then wrong one then. Best Japanese player? Have you seen the German penalty and how Ito decides to leave Raum completely free. He was covering him, then decides to let him go, moving towards the middle, even for just that scene you can't give him a passing grade for that game. For the rest: Assited Maedas Offside goal against Germany.: Offside the key word. Maeda was offside by 70 meters. Maeda knew it, Ito knew it, why does he even make the pass? In such a situation he simply shouldn't pass, since the offside was so clear. Do a dribbling, it involved speed, so he can do it (useless when the defense is set) or slow down, horizontal pass, but don't pass to the guy that is so very clearly offside. Almost scored against Germany after Neuers immortal save: Missed a chance you mean. At least that's what usually similar stuff is called here when it was Osako missing. Nice save by Neuer, yes. Still didn't score. Assited Doans Equalizer against Spain with a great area duel won.: Won the duel, yes, was that really counted as an official assist? Regardless, winning that duel was big of course. Give you that. Ito was created almost every chance/attack Japan has at the World Cup. Without Ito Japan would never gone that far: Ehm... he had nothing to do with the 2 goals vs Germany, nothing to do with the other goal vs Spain, nothing to do with the goal vs Croatia. But was marking Perisic... Kicker is just wrong in its ratings then. Checked once during the WC, don't remember when and don't even remember if it involved Japan, but found the ratings mind-boggling. Good for the Bundesliga, much less for the WC. Understandable, they won't put in as much effort for the WC involving players they hardly know... Best Japanese players were 1) Mitoma: even having to play as a LWB he still was involved in more danger situations than Ito (who in his defence of course ended up playing as RWB too often as well, and defensively he certainly is even worse than offensively, less solid than Mitoma too) 2) Doan, he worked as super sub, scored 2 goals, can't argue with that. Cross that resulted in the Maeda goal in the end was by him too. His usual NT self against Costa Rica, but if Moriyasu doesn't let the team play, what is he supposed to do... Those 2 were clearly better than Ito.
You have your arguments, @Kanarienvogel . I respect your opinion, but Ito marking Perišić was not a mistake by him, but rather a tactical mistake made higher up the chain. It has to be Tomiyasu marking him. Ito isn't meant to beat tall guys in the air. But honestly, nobody could have reasonably predicted Lovren would cross, and that he could do it accurately. Ito did his attacking job in that game- occupied Barišić's attention and delivered crosses in the box- there just weren't enough bodies or a tall striker to take advantage of these.
Just looking at statistics and Moriyasu is by far the most succesfull japanese coach. Just take recent coaches with similar amount of games and look. Like Troussier and Zico , nowhere close.
To be fair, these kind of stats are completely meaningless. And I don't say this to not giving him credit. - He has the strongest Japan squad in history - He didn't play many 'tough' friendlies during his tenure - He has far more games against extremely weak teams like Mongolia due to the FIFA qualifiers reform
No. Guys like D.Maeda, J.Ito and T.Asano were not exactly the best, sometime they overperformed and the last T.Minamino was one of the worst (giving the expectations). At the same time players like Furuhashi were left home (cuz of poor performance). There were not a single striker on the same level of a 2010 Okazaki or even 2018 Osako. And these are not exactly top forwards. Kubo should be the star and instead he was miles far from the previous JNT stars like golden age Kagawa or Honda. Midfielders were fine, especially A.Tanaka who came from B2, but never on the same level of Hasebe + Y.Endo who ruled JNT MF for ages. Defenders were fine too, despite the typical brain fart by Yoshida vs Costa Rica, who redeemed himself against Spain. Tomiyasu instead was awful, Itakura average as like Nagatomo/Sakai. Taniguchi overperformed in his match nothing more. Gonda as Yoshida, ups and downs, but not even close to 2010 Kawashima or 1998 Kawaguchi. For what we expected before this WC he did something miracolous with the average to poor human material he had at his disposition. Anyway Asian Cup will be his final challenge to be remember as the Best ever or the More Delusional Ever.
I think you don't remember 2010 and 2018 very well. The passage of time has made you forget a lot of the downsides of those teams. 2022 was our strongest NT in history. Not every single position necessarily, but as a unit yes.
Don't see the 2022 squad as the strongest. For me that's still 2014. Compared to 22... Goalkeeper Kawashima, like Gonda, nothing really special Defense: On the sides, Uchida-Nagatomo with 2 Sakais in reserve. That's way stronger than anything before or after. Central defense on the other hand clearly the weakness of that squad. Didn't think more of Yoshida in 2014 than now, if anything he bothers me less now, maybe because I got used to him, no more expectations at all, don't know... Konno, not as bad as some claimed (not here, or maybe here too), but Tomiyasu, Itakura, Ito are already better than Konno ever was. Or than Yoshida ever was. Who else was there.. Inoha probably... pretty useless. Defensive midfield with Yamaguchi, Hasebe, Endo and probably somebody else I don't remember, Yamaguchi was good, after the London Olympics I was convinced he was the future for the Japanese midfield.. Zac took a while to then call him up, but finally saw the light. Yamaguchi finally just stagnated endlessly after that, Endo despite his age and defensive weaknesses, a guy with that vision and precision is still great to have. Never thought as much of Hasebe as others here, but 2014 he clearly belonged. Endo-Morita-Tanaka of course are good too, but I prefer 14 Offense: Okazaki, Honda, Kagawa the midfield, I'd have preferred Okazaki up front really. but he delivered from the right too usually. Honda in his best years, Kagawa... never really delivered for Japan, but of course belonged in the squad the way he had exploded at Dortmund. Reserve Kiyotake, a luxury to have a guy like him as substitute. Forgot who else.....Here Doan, Ito, Kamada, Kubo simply would have no chance to start, Mitoma over Kagawa yes, but then in 22 we didn't get Mitoma starting either... CF: Osako... ok in the end not ready at the time. Kakitani, hm, not helping my case by mentioning him, but ok, he looked sensational for one season at Cerezo. And it's not like Maeda was any better. Ah, Okubo was called up last minute finally? Scorer like Furuhashi, even if Furuhashi probably is better. So central defence and since Okazaki had to play on the wing, CF, there I give the advantage to 22, but for the rest it's really no contest, 2014 had way more talent. They didn't deliver, but purely from the squad... 14 much better.
Im sorry but I dont really get your post and why you think 2014 is so much better? You say Kawashima and Gonda are same same. Wingbacks Uchida, Nagatomo. Nagatomo played 2022 also. CBs not good Midfield you dont think Hasebe is that good and you dont remember some of the players. Yamaguchi was never really good. Of course Kagawa, Honda and Okazaki is hard to beat. Great players. And Japan will have to wait for a trio like that. So this is really the only thing that is better with 2014 squad. And Osako wasnt ready you say. Your whole post is contradictory man "much better squad" come on
Reception problem on your end clearly. Maybe more than just that, if you think "Nagatomo played in 2022 also" is some sort of point or argument...
Your post has nothing positive really. Apart from the trio. So how the fck can you think that squad is better?
The 2014 Squad of course was very very strong. But failed like seolseol said. But the WC 2014 was not that bad in detail. The first half against Ivory Coast was very strong and the second till the moment Didier Drogba was coming also. I remember Oliver Kahn in the half time was analysing that he is impressed with Japan and that if they continue like that they will win the first game. If they managed to win this, maybe things would come around. Cause there was the big Okubo Chance to score against Greece as well and a solid first half against Columbia with the awesome Okazaki Header to equalize before the half time. So there was some positives and potenzial to advance to the ko stages but overall it was a very bad WC compared to the quality this Squad was having. But its no compare to the 2022 Team. Sure a Uchida, Nagatomo, Hasebe,Y.Endo, Honda,Kagawa Okazaki is very hard to beat. But: Wataru Endo and Hidemasa Morita are equal to the quality of Hasebe and Y. Endo but of course they were totaly other player types. No deadly freekicks or corners like Prime Endo. Kamada is very close to a Kagawa and Honda. Tomiyasu is equal to Nagatomo and Uchida but of course also totaly other player type. Way more defensive then the other one and you have also a Sugawara which need to show what he can get but without a doubt a very very talented player. And dont forget a H.Sakai which looks like he is getting older but dont think he is done. The only one who is hard to replace is a Okazaki which was like a Naohiro Takahara in his prime a beast. Okazaki was/is incredible. On the other Hand you have a Furuhashi which is maybe better/ as good but he need to show it in a better league. Hard to say for now but he is pure quality of course. And also a totaly other player type. And beneath that, you have players like Kubo, Doan, Maeda, J.Ito, Keito Nakamura, also Minamino for example for the offensive and Hatate, Hiroki Ito, Itakura for example for the defense. And thats only a few examples. The 2014 Squad never has sooo much talented and quality in the deepth. Almost the bench is as strong as the starting eleven. Thats a huuuge development. And dont forget the 10-20 players in Europe like a Ueda which for now dont play a big role for JNT and maybe never will but surely develop the progress for Japanese players abroad of course and who knows, maybe 2-3 of them become also a big suprise. The pool looks endless. Japan never has so much players in top leagues, Champions League, Europa League as more or less sure starters. And it looks like thats only the tip of the ice mountain.
But who would you chose from the 2014 and the 2022 team if you had to do a WC squad? Not based on how they played in their respective WCs, but also the whole preceding season, 18 months or so. And everybody is fit, no injuries. Including players that weren't called like Furuhashi (not that I remember much about 13/14 though...) And for simplicity's sake I go for 4-2-3-1, even if I would rather go the Okada 10 way... For me Goalkeepers: Kawashima 14, Gonda 22, Nishikawa 14... although Schmidt 22 would work too as third man. NO idea who would be my starter though... Since I do have a weakness for Nishikawa might start him, but don't really remember how well he played around then... Defence: Central easy. Itakura-Tomiyasu starters, Ito and Yoshida 22 reserves (22 because when he was young he annoyed me more, not sure he's better now, probably really just got used to his gaffe prone mediocrity, as I already wrote above.) Sidebacks: Uchida+Nagatomo 14 starters, Sakai14 and Nagatomo22 reserves (Sakai 18 might start over Uchida actually, but since we ignore 18 don't have to think about it too much) Defensive midfield: Y. Endo-Hasebe-Aoyama-W.Endo. Starters Y. Endo and Hasebe, but Y. Endo getting the Nagatomo 22 treatment, after all by 2014 he wasn't in his prime anymore, out for Aoyama between halftime and 65' (Zac did it the other way around) Aoyama in because he's the guy closest to Endo in the offensive department, but can see Morita or Yamaguchi called up in his place too. Shibasaki22 and Tanaka less. And of course depends who coaches, Moriyasu never really figured out how to use Shibasaki, who knows if he would have known how to use Endo... Offense: Starters Honda on the right, Kagawa middle, Mitoma left, Okazaki CF Reserves: Kiyotake, Kamada, then not too sure.... For CF either Furuhashi or Okubo, both scorers, Okubo around 14 in the form of his life, scored nonstop, but had his chances in the NT before, never really convinced... ok, playing winger at times too. Furuhashi never really got a chance to convince (or fail) in the NT.. Just for experience I go with Okubo.. .which might be the wrong choice. The other reserve, no clue, Kubo on potential? Hatate because he is versatile and can play on the wing too? Minamino as scorer, that can play behind the CF very effectively? Let's say Kubo... So for me it's 7-3 for 2014 for starters, ignoring the goalkeeper. And acknowledging that the defensive midfield could be W. Endo-Morita as well, even if Morita didn't even make it in my 23... but that position is the closest... so could be 5-5 too, but hm, no, I'd start Y. Endo for sure, 6-4 more likely. Or the 7-3 we have now. On the others positions I really have no doubt though. IN the 23 squad, 11-9 without goalkeepers, but here too, could change, depending on my mood might chose Furuhashi/Morita over Okubo/Aoyama. But those 2 were damned good too, Aoyama could have had a much better NT career if he wasn't blocked first by Endo then by Shibasaki and then Halilhodzic with his sort of weird fixation on Ideguchi, Okubo at the time was scoring at will in the J League. (And might have in Scotland too, if he went there) Anyway, for me the 14 squad is stronger on top, and on depth doesn't really lose either. What 22 had is a clearly stronger defense, and with Ito, Seko that can be expected to become stronger the future looks good too. And of course the 14 team failed, I'm aware of that, that's what makes it so frustrating, because as I said, that team really had the most talent of them all so far IMO, just didn't work out. Too offensive, and a sucky central defence. (So not sure if adding the anchor like Okada 10 did really would have been enough either)