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The story
On September 3rd, in Matchday 6 of La Liga, Real Sociedad hosted Celta Vigo at home and the match ended scoreless, 0-0. Japan national team midfielder Takefusa Kubo made his first appearance in two matches, playing until the 61st minute — but despite being left with an open net in front of him at one point, he failed to convert, and on 5ch voices rose calling him the “match-loser” (a term for the player blamed for a bad result). In the thread, arguments defending Kubo’s decision-making and ability clashed with harsh criticism, and as the discussion rolled on, comparisons to other athletes like Shohei Ohtani, Kaoru Mitoma, and Shinji Kagawa piled up, with the debate spreading well beyond an assessment of Kubo alone.
A frustrated Kubo Takefusa fails to finish off an open net… Sociedad draw 0-0 with Celta
Published Fri, Sept 4, 5:56 AM
Real Sociedad closed out their Matchday 6 La Liga fixture at home against Celta Vigo at the Reale Arena in a scoreless draw on the 3rd. Japan national team midfielder Takefusa Kubo made his first appearance in two matches, playing until the 61st minute.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Whether he's actually good or not has nothing to do with it — he's a star.
Once the JFA, Dentsu, and Adidas and that whole crowd decide someone's a star, they're a star.
And once he's a star, everyone just assumes he must be good.
Why'd he try to blast it in instead?
If he played for Real or Barca he'd be a Ballon d'Or lock, easy.
He's not at that level.
Feels like a transfer-fee refund request might be coming soon.
European soccer: score a goal, nobody talks about it; slump, and still nobody talks about it.
It's dead, lol
But no, he had to force it onto his left foot…
If the roles were reversed, they'd be dragging Oyarzabal for that clear through to the end of the season, lol
Wasn't that spot calling for a full tiger-dive header? lol
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lol
At least he didn't waste a teammate's assist doing it.
But that came off the rebound from Oyarzabal's incredible shot… so is Take gonna get bullied for missing it?
Isn't it exactly because soccer fanboys coddle guys like this that none of them ever cut it abroad?
Even a Korean player has won the Premier League Golden Boot, and yet Japan — bigger economy, bigger population — still loses to them. Pathetic, this dying sport of ball-kicking.
Don't get worked up just because Ohtani's supposedly "washed up," lol
Well, the level of competition is just different from baseball.
Couldn't he have just belly-flopped it in? Feels like Messi did something like that once… though maybe I'm just imagining it.
All crashed at once, huh.
Completely different situation.
Ohtani and Mitoma are only down because of injuries.
Ohtani and Mitoma are Japan's best players — Ohtani's arguably the best in the world.
Kubo, on the other hand, needs no explanation.
He never actually cut it to begin with, lol
And there it is — the blind believer.
It's exactly because of yes-men like you defending everything that Japanese soccer's level never rises.
Just keep saying 'well, the competition's so tough, it's fine if he can't hack it' forever, lol
It's obviously improved, however you look at it.
Huh? Where?
He's doing worse than back when guys like Kagawa were regular starters at Man United, lol.
He's stuck at a third-rate club in the Premier League or La Liga and isn't even performing there.
Mitoma's performing way better than Kagawa ever did.
And on top of that, the Premier League now is on a completely different level than it was back then.
Background and key points of this discussion
Takefusa Kubo has played for Real Sociedad since 2023 and, as a mainstay of the Japan national team, is a player who consistently draws attention — but this missed open-net chance became a flashpoint for debate on 5ch. Beyond technical criticism of the play itself (with users questioning why he didn’t head it or trap it), the thread saw defenders of Kubo clash with those harshly assessing his overall track record. There were also frequent tangents comparing him to other athletes like Shohei Ohtani, Kaoru Mitoma, and Shinji Kagawa, plus arguments over whether soccer or baseball generates more buzz — all of which pushed the discussion well beyond an evaluation of Kubo’s play alone, a nuance that’s easy to miss from the article excerpt on its own.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Soccer] A frustrated Kubo Takefusa fails to finish off an open net… Sociedad draw 0-0 with Celta.”
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