Oiwa should play the strongest 11 on the next match and stop the tinkering, Olympics Berth is at stake here. Matsuki has to start the next match. Shota Fujio really fits the CF role well, reminiscent of Osako with how he can play with his back to goal. He seems to be playing better than Mao Hosoya/Kein sato in at least, this tournament. Seiji Kimura is pretty decent, surprised that he couldn't get into FC Tokyo back then and Kanta Doi, who is 3 years younger than him is a starter. Hope he will play some regularly for Tosu now, he and Taiki Yamada are amongst the players who hasn't have much minutes in the J League as of currently.
Uae was pretty weak, I think he did right making the turnover. Could've easily finished 3-0 if not 4-0. That said unfortunately next game decides if the next opponent will be Qatar or someone else Liked Yamada so far, did better than expected.
Saw nothing, pissed at Oiwa for not calling up Kashif anyway. Any reason for that? Plus wanted to see Tawaratsumida called up as well, yes, young, but will be too old for 28. And he's good.
J League and other European leagues are still in competition, the clubs are not required to release players for an U23 tournament. A lot of highly rated ones like Yuito Suzuki, Sano, Saito... are not released by their clubs. Actually I think if the clubs let them go, it's a not so positive signal, literally "you're not that important to us" The team's overall play is not too impressive but about management side, I think the manager did decent. Nishio f*cked up in the match against China. Hosoya and Matsuki were subbed in as planned against UAE. Only one goal from them could make the game against S.Korea a lot easier, but they all finished like Bambi on ice (not counting other supposedly high-rate talent like Kein Sato or Uchino who also had laughable finishes). Nothing the manager can do to avoid that.
Well, what can I say? We f***ed up hard on that one. I'm not holding my breath about the idea of beating Qatar in the quarterfinals. We know how utterly bent the referees will be for them. Regardless, that would only be a mere excuse for the total ineptitude from the boys in blue in front of the opposing goal.
Why didn't Oiwa start Matsuki and Kokubi for this match? Good luck going against Qatar U-23 in their host country.
Yeah! Not looking forward to Qatar's game. I just hope our strikers will find their groove somehow in that crucial match. Olympic berth is at stake here!
It's not like their team is unbeatable or anything, it's just the "other" factors that always make them prevail in their matches. Ugh!
From a certain point of view, we would've met a team like Qatar in the semis or 3rd 4th place playoff. So we still have to win. That said, I don't know what the coach was smoking when he fielded this 11.
Just found a stream for the match, but it's late by 5 minutes and unreliable as hell. And oof that was a disgusting kung fu kick from the Qatari GK, totally deserves the red card. I hope Japan capitalizes on the numerical advantage. Can't slip this up.
Well, they did. Guess they won't be at the next Olympics and JFA mostly has to blame dubious choices in key games by the coach. Hosoya and Sato have been terrible this tournament.
Yes! They managed to equalize but sadly I won't be watching anymore. Too much drama for me to handle today, and I'd rather take a nap for my own mental health
let's ********ing goooooooooo Hosoya the shell of himself but for 5 seconds he remembered how to play football
Still less than half of an hour to go, but Indonesia are still in the lead by 2-1 against South Korea. The South Korean goal was an Indonesian own goal as well. If this result stands, perhaps it's somewhat safe to say that we dodged a bullet.
Yeah! This Indonesian team is the same one that took part in the last Asian Cup. I'm impressed... can't deny it.
This doesn't make much sense, given Qatar beat Indonesia confortably. Also Indonesia's second goal against Korea was embarassing.
Truth be told, Indonesia have really been more enterprising than South Korea as they went toe to toe. They are only being undone by 2 self-inflicted wounds so far.
The 2nd Korea goal reminds me somewhat of Belgium's 3rd goal against Japan in 2018 WC with that fast effective counter attack. Indonesia needs to improve their defence if they seriously want to compete in Asia.