In this Asian Cup, Japan's most "brilliant" player is not Hisashi Hisashi or the "three-goal king", but goalkeeper Suzuki Saiyan. When I first heard the name, I thought it was a woman, but I didn't expect it to be a mixed-race black man. This goalkeeper has been in the limelight in this Asian Cup, but in a negative direction, he has made low-level mistakes in many consecutive games, and is called "Japanese Onana".
If it weren't for the right arrangement of the god of fate, Suzuki Caiyan might not even be able to enter the Asian Cup list, let alone become the main player of the Japanese team.
In this Asian Cup, the performance of the Japanese team was slightly disappointing. They faced a number of difficulties against strong opponents, the biggest of which came from the team's goalkeeper position. And Suzuki Caiyan, as a mixed-race goalkeeper in this team, has become the target of public criticism. In a number of games, his mistakes allowed opponents to score easily, causing Japan to lose valuable points. This performance has made people question him more and more, and "Japan Onana" is expected to stay with him for the rest of his career.
Having said that, it was indeed an extremely fortuitous event that Suzuki became the main goalkeeper of the Japanese team in the Asian Cup, and it happened to fall into Suzuki Caiyan's pocket. What's going on here? Let me take you through this dramatic journey.
The story of everything starts with the 2022 World Cup. At that time, the main goalkeeper of the Japanese team was still Shuichi Gonda. However, the club that Shuichi Gonda played for was relegated in the 2022 season, an incident that changed the course of the whole story. Therefore, during the World Cup and in interviews afterward, the Japanese coach had vaguely expressed the idea that Shuichi Gonda would not be selected for the national team again after the World Cup.
There are two main reasons: first, it is difficult to guarantee the form of the second division, and second, the soon-to-be-35-year-old Shuichi Gonda is indeed too old. In the new World Cup preparation cycle, Mori Baoyi is bound to be updated. As a result, Osamu Gonda has never been selected for the Japanese team since the World Cup.
In 2023, Mori began to rebuild the new pattern of the Japanese team's goalkeepers. Their original plan was to make Daniel Schmidt, the third goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup and then playing for St. Tolden in the Premier League, the main goalkeeper. The young and promising goalkeeper has become the focus of Mori Bao's training with his excellent performance and consistent performance.
At the same time, they also plan to have Keisuke Osako, a descendant of Sanfrecce Hiroshima, as the second goalkeeper. Keisuke Osako has shown excellent strength and potential in his previous matches and is considered the future hope of the Japanese team. Another high-profile young goalkeeper is Gu Huangsheng, who is from most of the gangba. He has shown great talent and potential in his previous games and is considered the future goalkeeper hope of the Japanese team.
However, in the first half of the 2023 season, Gu Huangsheng's performance in the league was a big surprise. His mistakes and poor performances gradually challenged his position. In contrast, Daniel Schmidt and Keisuke Osako have been more outstanding and consistent. Through their strength and performance, they have gradually become the focus of Senbao's attention.
On that brilliant summer of 2023, Schmidt, the talented goalkeeper, made a surprising decision: to leave St. Toldden. His departure has attracted the attention of two Ligue 1 clubs, Metz and Lorient. Schmidt, who had already negotiated with the Metz club, missed the transfer at the last moment because he failed the medical examination. Schmidt was caught off guard by the turn of events, and he no longer had time to negotiate a transfer with another club.
Meanwhile, St. Tolden FC have already signed Saiyan Suzuki on loan from Puhe Red Diamonds as Schmidt's replacement. All this turned out to frustrate Schmidt's transfer plans, and he was forced to stay in St. Torden. For St. Tolden, they naturally won't use a goalkeeper who is determined to leave, and Schmidt's position at the club has become awkward.
Schmidt has not played a single club match since August. It wasn't until the winter transfer window opened that he was finally able to join Digent FC in the Bottom Division. However, due to a long period of unavailability at the club, Schmidt was also ruled out of the Asian Cup goalkeeper option by Moriyasuichi.
Nakamura was the second goalkeeper to go wrong. In the national team warm-up match in September 2023, he started against Turkey. However, fate played a joke on him. During the game, he was unfortunately injured, and this injury was more than two months. When he returned, he found that he had lost his main place in the Portuguese Super League and could no longer perform as well on the pitch as he used to. As a result, Moriyasu had to rule him out of the Asian Cup goalkeeper selection sequence.
In the warm-up match in October 2023, Keisuke Osako has basically secured the main position. In order to fill the vacancies of Schmidt and Nakamura, Moriyasu called up Saiyan Suzuki, who played well as a regular in Santorden, and Kobe Victory Passing goalkeeper Daiya Maekawa, who played prominently in the domestic league.
However, the trick of fate did not end. Just as Daiya Maekawa was about to report for duty, he was also unfortunately injured. This left Suzuki with almost no rivals, and after playing well against Tunisia, Suzuki naturally overtook Maekawa Daiya in the order. The final story happened in December, when the league season was all over, and Keisuke Osako actually suffered a hand fracture in training and missed the Asian Cup for at least two months.
At this time, Mori Hoichi naturally chose Suzuki Saiyan to become the starting goalkeeper. So far, Suzuki Caiyan has "shined" in the Asian Cup and is well-known to the world as "Japan's Onana". Coincidentally, Manchester United Club really contacted Suzuki Saiyan last summer and almost bought it, and it seems that Manchester United still has a soft spot for goalkeepers like Onana.
In the current situation, Moriyasu made a natural choice, and he decided to make Saiyan Suzuki the starting goalkeeper. So far, Suzuki Caiyan has "shined" in the Asian Cup and is well-known to the world as "Japan's Onana".
Coincidentally, last summer, Manchester United also approached Suzuki Saiyan and even almost recruited him. The news reminds us that Manchester United seem to have a soft spot for the type of goalkeeper Onana. If Manchester United buy him, there will be two Onana in the team, which should be fun.
#Football##日本#