With the end of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and Japan national team, also known as ‘Samurai Blue’ manager Hajime Moriyasu signing a new contract on the 28th of December, 2022 to take Japan to the 2026 Canada, USA, and Mexico World Cup, the long road to 2026 begins. The first step towards that is the 2023 Kirin Challenge Cup which will see Japan face off against Uruguay at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, Colombia at the Yodoko Sakura Stadium, and two other teams that are currently yet to be decided to be played at the Toyota Stadium in Aichi, and Panasonic Stadium Suita in Suita.
In a press conference one day before the match against Uruguay, Samurai Blue head coach Hajime Moriyasu shared his aspirations for the beginning of Japan’s journey to the 2026 Canada, USA, and Mexico World Cup by stating his desire for “the players to challenge themselves to reach new goals.” Moriyasu sees the upcoming matches as a “new start” towards the 2026 World Cup and expresses his belief that “we must fight for victory in each game in front of us and strive to build the team ahead of the AFC Qualifiers and the World Cup.”
Japan has earned the respect of their Uruguayan opponents with their impressive performances in the 2022 Qatar World Cup with interim head coach Broli saying, “Japan is a tough opponent. We want to attack with high intensity and make it difficult for Japan.” Sebastian Coates sees a parallel between Uruguay and Japan with the match marking a generational change for both countries and the “beginning of a new cycle” and hopes that they can showcase a spectacular match. Santiago Mele faced Japan in the U-20 World Cup in South Korea in 2017 and sees Japan as a tactically disciplined team with the capability of dynamic and intense plays and relishes the “crucial opportunity to compete against a tough team from another continent. We hope that you will come to the stadium and enjoy the spectacle of the match.”
The squad selection for the 2023 Kirin Challenge Cup contains a handful of members who contributed to Japan’s round of 16 finish in the 2022 Qatar World Cup including Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton and Hove Albion, Junya Ito at Stade de Reims, Ritsu Doan at SC Freiburg, Ao Tanaka at Fortuna Dusseldorf, Ko Itakura at Borussia Monchengladbach. Yukinari Sugawara bitterly missed out on the 2022 Qatar World Cup due to injury but was included in this squad selection and expressed his feelings saying “this is a huge opportunity for me and it’s up to me to make the most of it. I need to express myself on the pitch and showcase my determination for victory.”
The squad for the 2023 Kirin Challenge also handed out first-time call-ups to Ryotaro Tsunado at Yokohama F. Marinos, Keito Nakamaru at LASK Linz, Kashif Bangnagande at FC Tokyo, and Riku Handa at Gamba Osaka. Regarding the four players, Moriyasu said “Each of them has made their presence felt in the respective teams and has their own distinctive qualities. Now, I want them to show their eagerness to make their presence felt in the national team.” The addition of these young Olympic generation talents shows Moriyasu’s desire to “add more depth to the squad in order to build the best national team ever. I hope that the players will make the most of this opportunity to develop as players at the individual level.” and “in order to build on the team’s success at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, I’m interested in seeing what these players can bring to the table ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026.”
Moriyasu has thanked the services of Maya Yoshida, Yuto Nagatomo and Hiroki Sakai for their long-standing solidity as the foundations for the team but acknowledged that it was time to develop players with less experience to build a strong national team. However, Moriyasu recognised the need to strike a balance, stating that “while we intend to provide plenty of opportunities to those with less experience, we also intend to come up with ways to take advantage of the competition between the veterans and the young players to improve the overall level of the team.”
As of now, a captain for the Japan team has not yet been appointed but seems that Moriyasu will appoint a captain on a game-by-game basis. The captain for the match against Uruguay will be Wataru Endo who has said “Captain or not, what I do remains the same,” and added that the team, which includes new players, “must compete (individually) and improve as a team. We need to keep the ball moving and try to create chances for ourselves.”
Japan’s current record against Uruguay is 2 wins, 2 draws, and 4 losses. This will be the first time they face each other since the 2-2 stalemate at the Copa America group stages in June 2019. Japan’s most memorable match against Uruguay was the thrilling 4-3 win with Takumi Minamino scoring a brace, Yuya Osako and Ritsu Doan finding themselves on the scoresheet as well. The match was played at the Saitama Stadium on the 16th of October, 2018.
Expectations were high for Kaoru Mitoma and his electric form in the Premier League. However, his performance was a good summary of the first half. Glimpses of quality without much lethal threat, but he was substituted out of the match without making much of an impact. Japan was outclassed, out pressed and outplayed throughout the first half. Japan didn’t play brave enough and opted for the safer option most passes which prevented any effective attack from developing. Japan has decent passing but was unable to find the last pass in a critical position to pose any goal threat. Valverde scored the first goal in the match deservedly with an effort that rebounded off the crossbar into his path and he headed the ball into an open goal.
Japan started to kick into gear after Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano were subbed off for Junya Ito and Ayase Ueda respectively in the 61st minute. They started making more runs with the ball instead of playing somewhat ineffective and inaccurate one-touch passes. Junya Ito drew a foul in the penalty area and controversially, VAR ruled that it was not a penalty in the 66th minute. Japan made further substitutions by replacing Hidemasa Morita and Daichi Kamada with Ao Tanaka and Takuma Nishimura respectively in the 75th minute. Shortly after, Takuma Nishimura scores a left-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner assisted by a Junya Ito cross in the 75th minute. Japan made two further substitutions by removing Kaoru Mitoma and Yukinari Sugawara for Daiki Hashioka and Keito Nakamura respectively in the 89th minute but there was little effect on the match and Japan managed to finish the match with a 1-1 draw despite a less-than-stellar performance. Uruguay could have easily won the match should they not have been denied by the post unluckily. Japan worked better as a team but the difference between quality on a player-to-player comparison is a stark one. Japan was outplayed in most 1v1 situations and could do little about it.
Here are the statistics from the match.
Japan was overall disappointingly quiet today. But Japan can’t rely on their smash-and-grab counterattacks that relies mainly on luck and lapses in opponent concentration which they have relied on to win against Germany and Spain. Japan needs to work on a stable system on which to base their football upon. I am seeing some progress towards that as Japan seemed like they were working hard to adapt to a more consistent and stable possession-based style of play today.
Similarly to what Moriyasu said in the press conference before the match, “Although we were able to create chances from counterattacks at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, we didn’t have the quality to break through when possessing the ball. However, we did demonstrate our ability to make quick transitions between offence and defence, which enabled us to recover the ball after losing possession of it. That is something we need to build on and do more in the upcoming matches. We hope to defend tenaciously when we need to drop deep in our half, while making the transition to apply aggressive pressure from our frontline when we intend to press forward.” Japan were still uncomfortable with a baseline tactic.
Japan needs to improve more in 1v1 situations. Most of the Japanese players are established players in teams overseas in Europe and are acclimatising to the physicality of foreign leagues but they are still losing challenges by Uruguay. Japan is good at counter attacking and their pursuit for a stable tactic should not mean they forget about what they’re already strong at, but rather to build upon it. I have seen less long balls up the field which gives away possession cheaply and instead looking to dribble with the ball and making quick low passes instead. The build up will not be as stark as a long ball but it retains possession and increases chances of crafting a goal-scoring opportunity. Japan needs to work on their one-touch passing to make their current tactic even more effecctive as there has been multiple instances when Uruguay regains possession from a one-touch pass that was inaccurate or lacking in power. But I felt that I was seeing progress for Japan trying to produce a tactical identity for the team.
The Dark Hound 