That is an interesting question but I believe the Japanese senior squad is superior to any U20 side in the world. Yes the US under 20s totally dominated the CONCACAF U20 WWC qualifying but that does not even mean that they are a favorite to win the U20 WWC, but I think they are one of the two or three favorites. CONCACAF is so weak in women's soccer that nothing can be gleaned from being the top team in CONCACAF in any age group. The US U20s are good but they are neither good enough or experienced enough to give a team like Japan's senior side much of a fight. I would say Japan wins about 4 or 5 to 1 or 2.
InStat stats: SBC - USA vs Japan stats and key passes. USA in dark blue, Japan in white.The U.S. were ruthless, but it was far from their best showing overall. pic.twitter.com/bhZNFeHYtj— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) March 14, 2020 Julie Ertz was still top-rated on this game, and I don't think it was her best: USA-JPN - inStat Top Rated1. Julie Ertz (USA)2. Megan Rapinoe (USA)3. Abby Dahlkemper (USA)4. Mana Iwabuchi (JPN)5. Lindsey Horan (USA)Bottom Rated (minimum 30 minutes played)1. Mina Tanaka (JPN)2. Yuika Sugasawa (JPN)3. Ayaka Yamashita (JPN)— Chris Henderson (@chris_awk) March 14, 2020
This is roughly the same team of players who two years ago could not get out of the group at the under 17 world cup right? Also last year the under 20 side who was then under 19 played Japan's under 19 team in two matches and it was a win a piece, so you do realise that your under 20 team has trouble beating under 20 Japan. The US is very strong at women's football and has the best senior team in the world, but some of you do need to get a grip on reality.
True. There are maybe 3 or 4 players on the U20 team who will make it to the senior national team. That's true of viritually every year's group. Most of them won't make it.
The senior Japanese team are more technical compare to the U-20 USWNT. Japan would win. And these are pro players.
In all fairness, the OP wasn’t asking if our youth can beat your youth team, he was asking if we can beat your senior squad! and honestly I’ve seen 13 year olds punt the ball further & more accurately than who ever you had at Gk(US 2nd goal). And it wasn’t a once in a lifetime mistake, Japan gave up easy goals in similar vein throughout this tournament otherwise, I thought after the first 15 minutes(when the US finally got tired from pressing so hard) Japan might of been the better team. But it really don’t matter if they keep giving up such easy goals
Yeah I know. They made a tonne of mistakes at the back. But would the under 20 US team punish them as well as the senior team? Probably not in my opinion. Japan still managed to score against the senior team, so how many goals would Japan put past the under 20 team? Probably more than one. Japan were poor this tournament, but they were poor last year in this tournament. The last time they played really well in a March tournament was the 2014 Algarve Cup, but that was when a lot more of the national team were playing overseas. This tournament was basically the first competitive football matches for the entire squad excluding Kumagai this year. Half the squad have not played competitively since the middle of December. Think about that. Japan are pretty bad even in mid-season at the moment, but as a fan I can honestly tell you they are playing so much better than compared to two or three years ago.
Like I’ve said Japan played pretty good & had an tired US on the run; if they didn’t give up such easy goals. It just seemed Japan didn’t have ‘the total package’. In this day & age when woso participants have doubled, even tripled in some countries since the 2011 WC, Japan needs to be able to produce a fair number of more physical & athletic players to go with its more technical ones. On the other hand Japan will still compete well at the bottom half of the top 10, as I haven’t seen any is improvements in the likes of Canada of Australia. In fact the Aussies despite a fully loaded lineup, looked terrible in recent games; a 2-1 win over Vietnam, a tie vs China in their own backyard. The US soccer fed pays the salaries of the NT players, that’s why you don’t see many roster changes, but with the almost no parity in woso(the world has NOT caught up) an decently trained American B, C or even college all-star squad would make it to the top ten world rankings. It’s just the FIFA system doesn’t favor the way we do youth soccer in our country(we play more American style/unlimited subs all the way through college, plus raised through mom & pop travel teams rather than pro clubs). But on the other hand; so many top youth players have flopped(all over the world) when they turn seniors.