The Japanese

Japan, I’ve always wanted to visit this country. I will someday but that’s irrelevant. What is relevant is the dominance of this team lately. Especially in the WCQ and friendlies. In World Cup Qualifiers Japan played 16 matches. They scored 54 goals, they conceded 3. Just hearing that is insane, but it’s true. They won 5-0 three times, they beat china 7-0, and they scored over 4 goals six times. The first question you might ask is probably what country’s did they play in the first place. Some of the bigger names they played are China, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Syria. In friendlies they played a lot better teams. They beat Brazil 3-2, they beat Iceland 1-0, they beat England 1-0, they beat Ghana 2-0, they beat Bolivia 3-0, they beat Scotland 1-0, they drew Paraguay 2-2, they drew Mexico 0-0, and they lost to the United States of all teams 0-2. That’s some incredible stuff right there. Lots of clean sheets. Some key players for this team would be Ayase Ueda, and Junya Ito. They are some of Japans top scoring threats. Japan plays in a 3-4-2-1 formation trying to play fast and counter attack their opponents. As we saw from some of their scores, that shit works. They will press the ball the entire game in order to get a turnover, they have a amazing pressing team. The only real problem is the lack of size and physically defensive backs. If they go out early is going to be because of the defense. As we saw earlier with all those clean sheets, it’s good defense but there’s size is a problem. But Japan is very competent on defense and is a well oiled machine all over the field. Zion Suzuki is the staring goal keeper for this Japan national team and he could be a star in this tournament. He has made some incredible saves lately, I’m so excited to watch him play. Side note I know this does not matter but Japan probably has one of the best jerseys in the tournament. Another thing that might end up hurting Japan is the injury’s, this team will probably go through a hand full of injuries. They are not 100% going into the tournament but with all that adrenaline and some ice packs they might just be ok. Japan is one of my favorite teams heading Into the World Cup, and I can’t wait to watch them play. It’s going to be exciting, fast play that will put you on the edge of your seat.