On Thursday night, the Chinese men's soccer team will challenge Japan away in the round of 12, and the outcome of this match will theoretically determine whether the Chinese team can qualify. As the strongest opponent in this group, the Japanese team has been in a very average state since the beginning of the round of 12, in addition to the match against Australia, the rest of the duels are not convincing, and this time the team has also suffered from more serious injuries, coach Hoichi Mori will let the "Blue Samurai" play against the Chinese team in what way?
Many of the core players in the Japanese team were injured in this training camp, and the biggest impact on the team should be the absence of the main central defenders Maya Yoshida and Kenhiro Fuan. This necessitated the need for Mori to activate a new centre-back combination. Itakura, who only moved to Bundesliga Schalke 04 last summer, will not unexpectedly pick up the girder, and he is arguably one of the most consistent Japanese centre-backs in the Europa League this season, making 17 appearances in the Bundesliga so far and scoring two goals, making him a key link in the Miners' backline.
Itakura's partner needs to think about it seriously, Ueda Naotori played in Ligue 2 Nim and has made 17 league appearances this season, but this Jun has encountered bottlenecks in recent years and is in a general state. The two have lacked national team playing experience for more than a year in recent years, with Itakura's last appearance in a 10-0 win over Myanmar in the Round of 40, and his starting partner is Maya Yoshida, who has yet to appear in the Round of 12. Naoto Ueda started in the round of 12 against Oman when he replaced Kenyo Fuan, who returned late to the team due to a move to Arsenal. The last time the two teamed up, it was also in a 10-0 win over Myanmar, and Naotsu Ueda played 45 minutes in the second half of substitute Ma Yoshida.
In addition, there are two local league players - Shogo Taniguchi and Shinnosuke Nakatani. The national team experience of these two is not very rich, and if there are no more players injured, I am afraid it will be difficult to get a starting opportunity. This also exposed a hidden danger of the Japanese team - the main player position is too stable, and the coach Mori Hoichi makes fewer attempts, making the team more uncertain in the face of the tide of injuries.
In addition, the japanese team's injury wave also endangered the attacking line, and Hiroshi Furuhashi, who has performed heroically in the Soviet Super League this season, and Kaoru Mitsuru, who played in the first division, were all unable to be selected due to injury. Correspondingly, the return of Kubo Kenei, who was absent due to injury in the last training camp, will receive special attention in the 2021 J-League Golden Boot in the winter, but because the Japanese team has played a 4-3-3 formation in recent games, the position of the 2 wingers is relatively fixed, coupled with the center position Morihoichi's extreme trust in Ōtomo, which makes it difficult for Maeda to get a starting opportunity, and most of the meeting substitutes appear.
In the midfield, the team's selection is relatively neat, Shibasaki is gradually moving away from the main position after the serious mistakes of playing Saudi Arabia in the past, and the starting lineup of Endo, TanakaBi and Hidemasa Morita will be popular with people.
(Japanese media predicted to debut)
Back-up prediction starts (4-3-3): Shuichi Kwonda / Hiroki Sakai, Naotsuru Ueda, Itakura, Yuto Nagatomo / Bi Tanaka, Hang Endo, Hidemasa Morita / Junya Ito, Akiya Ōki, Takumi Minamino
Text/Supine Braces - Yangyuan Zhang