The Japanese team will usher in the 7th and 8th rounds of the World Preliminary Round of 12 on January 27 and February 1, with two consecutive home games against China and Saudi Arabia, but due to Japan's epidemic prevention policy problems, Kobe Victory Ship owner Hiroshi Mikitani is attacking the Japanese Football Association and the government, which is a bit of a backyard fire.
Two consecutive home games against China and Saudi Arabia are strategic for Japan to win the top two places in the group and directly enter the final round of the World Cup in Qatar, so the Japanese team attaches great importance to this. However, the whole process of preparation and preparation for war is also quite tortuous.
The blessed spot for the Japanese team is the Saitama 2002 World Cup Stadium, where the Japanese team won the World Preliminary Tournament with a winning percentage of nearly 80%. However, the stadium was scheduled to replace the lawn earlier this year, which disrupted the Preparation Plan of the Japanese Football Association. In particular, in the first home match of the World Preliminary Round of 12, after the Japanese team lost 0-1 to Oman in Osaka Fukida, it strengthened the determination of the Japanese Football Association to continue to use Saitama 2002. Eventually, after many mediations and personal visits, the Japan Football Association received support from Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono, and eventually the lawn replacement of the stadium was postponed for a year.
In terms of the team's own preparation, the Japanese team has also encountered many difficulties, such as the huge overseas international team.
In the past month, The attacking line of Kuyasu Andi Junya Ito and the defensive line of Kenyo Fuan and Itakura Yumitsu have all been infected with the new crown, and the main right winger Jun Ito is still in quarantine. The latest recruit is veteran goalkeeper Kawashima, who played for Strasbourg in Ligue 1, but he has gradually withdrawn from the Japanese squad, and the young goalkeeper Kosei Tani has basically replaced him.
In terms of injuries, center-back captain Ma Yoshida also suffered a heavy blow in Serie A last week, and his thigh injury will make him miss out until February 6 at the longest, and he has basically missed this training and competition. In addition, Henggo Furuhashi, who is on fire in the Celtic state of the Soviet Super League on the offensive line, and Anlu, the absolute main force in Eindhoven in the Dutch first division, are currently injured. The only thing that can please manager Morihoichi at the moment is that the main players of the three midfielders he has recently identified, Suchao Hang, Hidemasa Morita and Bi Tanaka, are still "intact".
The bigger crisis, I'm afraid, still comes from the players in the domestic group. In order to prepare for these two extremely important matches, the Japanese team rarely prepared in advance, and the training camp will start on January 17, which will be divided into two stages. In the first stage, Mori hominised players who played in the J-League and planned to warm up with Uzbekistan on 21 January, followed by selecting players who met their needs and preparing for the second phase in conjunction with returning overseas legion players.
However, due to the raging Ofilon virus, Japan's epidemic prevention pressure was extremely high, and finally the Japanese government was in the security factors, although the approval of the two World Preliminary Rounds to proceed normally, but rejected the application for warm-up Uzbekistan. At the same time, due to the need for epidemic prevention, the Japanese government also requires all players who participate in the preparation for the World Preliminary Tournament and belong to domestic league teams to be quarantined for 14 days after the World Preliminary Tournament because they have contact with players from abroad.
Kozo Tajima, president of the Japanese Football Association, confirmed this in an online interview on the 12th, but it caused an uproar.
Kobe Victory Ship's backstage boss and owner of the Lotte Group, Hiroshi Mikitani, was the first to stand up against it. The e-commerce giant even rarely scolded the Japanese Football Association and the government on personal social media: "The government and the association require domestic players to quarantine for 2 weeks after the game, which violates human rights, but players returning from overseas can train immediately before the game and leave immediately after the game. The salary is paid by our club, but it is isolated because of the national team, which is simply not like words. I don't think there is a power to limit their actions, which is an abuse of executive power. ”
Hiroshi Mikitani's anger is not without reason. If, under the Japanese government's quarantine rules, players from domestic league teams who are quarantined for 14 days after a match against Saudi Arabia on February 1 will not be able to return to the club until at least February 16.
However, according to the schedule, the Super Cup, which was played by last season's league champion Kawasaki Forward against The Emperor's Cup champion Urawa Red Diamonds, will be played on February 11, and a week later, on February 18, the 2022 season of the J-League will officially begin. Players from China must start preparing with the national team from January 17, and they must quarantine until February 16 before returning to the club, which does affect the preparation of the club for the new season.
Taking Kobe as an example, the two pillars of their front line, Ōkyū Andi Muto Yoshinori, have all entered the list of the national team's pre-training camp on January 17, and if kobe does not have these two people during the preparation period, it is equivalent to preparing for a lonely battle... Of course, the more serious impact may be Kawasaki forward, captain Akigo Taniguchi and main right-back Yamane Shira to participate in the national team, followed by not only the Super Cup Kawasaki need to play, the opening match of the new season J League is also Kawasaki against FC Tokyo. Maybe Hiroshi Mikitani just said a lot of things that club presidents didn't dare to say.
After Mikitani Hiroshi made a statement, the Japanese Football Association also softened on the 13th, after all, Kobe's current status is extraordinary, after all, they want to do "Asian Barça" to add glory to Japanese football in Asia and even the world, it is impossible not to give face. Later on the 13th, Yasuji Inomachi, chairman of the technical committee of the Japan Football Association, said that in view of the opposition of the club, the president of the Football Association, Kozo Tajima, and the chairman of the J League, Manamura Murai, have jointly signed a letter to the Japanese government, hoping to shorten the quarantine time for domestic players. Murai said it was "a matter of survival in the J-League".
However, the epidemic situation in Japan is indeed not light, and we will continue to pay attention to the follow-up development.