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The story
On September 28, 2026, Japan’s national team took on Venezuela at Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima. The first half had its sluggish stretches, but 33-year-old Junya Ito stood out, setting up a goal from the flank. On 5ch, his performance sparked a thread that couldn’t settle on one verdict — surprise at a technical “evolution” that now extends even to his free kicks and passing accuracy, worry that no successor is in sight, and a sharper take that “the national team hasn’t actually progressed, it’s just leaning on a veteran.”
Still evolving
On September 28, 2026, Japan’s national team faced Venezuela at Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima. The starting lineup for the day was as follows.
The formation was the familiar 3-4-2-1: Reo Bryan Kokubo in goal; the back three, from right to left, were Ayumu Seko, Go Watanabe, and Junnosuke Suzuki; the double pivot was Daichi Kamada and Koki Kumasaka. Shuto Nakano started at right wing-back and Yuki Soma at left wing-back, with Ryunosuke Sato and Shunsuke Saito as the two shadow strikers, and Keisuke Goto at center forward.
Source: soccerdigestweb.com / Original article here
What people said
・Thu, Oct 1, 19:10 — 🇯🇵 Japan vs 🇪🇨 Ecuador (Nissan Stadium, Yokohama):
Live nationwide on TBS, streaming live on TVer
・Mon, Oct 5, 19:30 — 🇯🇵 Japan vs 🇵🇦 Panama or 🇳🇿 New Zealand (National Stadium):
Live nationwide on TV Asahi, streaming live on TVer, ABEMA, and DAZN
Mitoma would be too, if he could just stay healthy.
Semifinal
Wed, 9/30, 19:30 — 🇯🇵 Japan vs Uzbekistan
Final
Sat, 10/3, 19:30 — 🇯🇵 Japan vs South Korea or China (if Japan wins the semifinal)
https://img-footballchannel.com/wordpress/assets/2026/09/532982c2141fd30fe8e8f54bc2a96a10.jpg
What nobody knows is who replaces him.
Still feels like he's climbing the mountain lol
Wouldn't be surprised to see him at Arsenal or Inter.
Moriyasu should be handing Ito a cut of his salary.
Did whoever wrote this even watch the match?
He was clearly on the left side the whole time.
He's on the senior national team on pure merit, with zero favoritism involved, and still doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves.
It's not a second-rate club, and from what I hear he's very much valued there.
Nobody can predict how a ninth-grader's career will turn out. If they could, big clubs wouldn't need to blow huge money on transfers.
I support a rival club, but he was razor sharp. I still remember him blowing past Kashima's Shuto Yamamoto with a double touch.
Back then my impression was "fast crossing machine." His ball control, passing, vision, and knack for breaking down tight spots have all gotten sharpened to another level after being tested overseas.
Wait, there was a soccer match today?! I had the Asian Games on the whole time.
Honestly today's match would've been fine to catch as highlights later. If I'd known the score already I'd have watched something else.
There's Yokoyama, a dribbler, at the same club.
Fast, great attacking instincts, good at both passing and crossing, and can score too…
yeah, probably nobody like that.
There just aren't many guys who are both fast and skilled. The fast ones are usually fast and nothing else.
Background and Talking Points
Junya Ito, a Kashiwa Reysol product, is now 33 and plays for a club in Belgium. In 2023, a scandal involving his manager made headlines and he briefly stepped away from the national team — a story the thread also referenced. What sparked this discussion is that, far from declining since that episode, he’s kept “evolving,” sharpening even his passing and free-kick accuracy — the kind of technical growth speed-reliant players are usually said to struggle to develop. The thread split between voices praising him as “still improving” and harsher takes arguing that “the national team is just leaning on a veteran and hasn’t actually progressed” — a distinction worth reading separately from the praise for Ito himself. Concerns about the lack of a successor also came up repeatedly, making this more of a structural talking point than just a one-off highlight.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Soccer] ‘Is he really 33?’ — The ‘fearsome attacker’ who brought life to a Japan team stuck in neutral in the first half.”
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