On November 1, Japan announced its 26-man squad for the World Cup in Qatar. In this list, there are as many as 20 players playing in the Europa League, and the number of talents really makes Chinese fans in East Asia envious and jealous. However, it is worth mentioning that this time the Japanese squad has 19 players playing in the World Cup for the first time, and in this regard, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are a new army without compromise. The question is, what kind of medicine is sold in the gourd this time by coach Mori Hoichi?
Take a look at the Japanese team's squad, the players who played in the World Cup for the first time are as follows:
Goalkeeper: Daniel Schmidt.
Defenders: Itakura Akira, Kenhiro Tomiyasu, Yuta Nakayama, Shogo Taniguchi, Hidera Yamane and Yoki Ito.
Chūkō: Hidemasa Morita, Daichi Wakita, Aoi Tanaka.
Forwards: Yuki Soma, Kaoru Mikasa, Dairan Maeda, Ritsu Doyasu, Kiyo Ueda, Kenei Kubo, Takuma Asano, Junya Ito and Takumi Minamino.
When talking about Japan's goals for this World Cup, coach Hoichi Mori proudly claimed to reach the quarterfinals. Of course, a look at Japan's group stage opponents shows that this goal is somewhat unrealistic. Because in the same group as Japan are two former world champions Germany and Spain, as well as Costa Rica, a powerful Central American powerhouse. In terms of strength, it is not difficult for Japan to get points against Germany and Spain, and they are satisfied with three points against Costa Rica. It is already a luxury to qualify for the group, let alone reach the quarterfinals, which is a fool's dream no matter how you look at it.
Of course, what fans can see, Mori Hoichi naturally knows it. This large list of new talents contains his ambitions. In other words, the Japanese team's trip to Qatar was to have the idea of punching the teacher to death.
In the Japanese team's roster, there are a total of five veterans over 30 years old, except for midfielder Takeshi Shibasaki, who was born in May 1992 and just 30 years old, the other four appeared in the backfield, namely 39-year-old Nagashima Eiji, 36-year-old Yuto Nagatomo, 34-year-old Maya Yoshida and 32-year-old Hiroki Sakai. All four veterans of the back line have left their mark in Europe's top five leagues, and the 39-year-old is even now playing in Ligue 1 Strasbourg. Their super rich game experience is very important in this kind of tournament cup competition, and Moriho brought them with them in the hope of using the experience of veterans to deal with the strong forces at critical moments and consolidate the defense to the greatest extent. Because only by defending well can Japan think about how to win.
Of course, in the Japanese team's backline, even the first brother of the World Cup has quite excellent quality, the most limelight of which is naturally Kenyang Tomiyasu, who plays for Premier League leader Arsenal, who can play many positions in the back line under Arteta, and Salah, the Golden Boot of last season, is not down. Others such as Yoki Ito, Yuta Nakayama, Itakura and others are also the main players of their respective teams, and their strength is also considerable.
In midfield, Japan are even more talented, with Daichi Kamata, who has scored 11 goals and two assists in 19 games for Eintracht Frankfurt this season, and is undoubtedly the heart of the Japanese team's midfield. On the front, Takumi Minamino, Kaoru Mikasa, Junya Ito, Hisashi Yasuhide, Ritsu Do, Dairan Maeda and Kiyo Ueda also have outstanding strength. Among them, Sanxiang Fan, who plays for Brighton in the Premier League, has only two assists in eight league games this season, but once to Chelsea and once to Liverpool, and the back line of both teams has been toyed with by him.
With steady words on the back line, competition in midfield strength and keen attack on the forward line, this new team of the World Cup in Japan may really bring unexpected surprises to fans. South Korea's feat of taking out defending champions Germany at the last World Cup may not happen again.