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The story
In the Asian Games men’s soccer semifinal, the Japan U-21 national team faced Uzbekistan. Japan conceded the opening goal in the first half but equalized in the 43rd minute of the second half with a header from Sena Ishibashi, and after extra time failed to settle it, won on penalties to put itself one win away from its first gold medal in 16 years. The final will be held on October 3rd against Korea, who are chasing a third straight title in this event. In the thread, comments centered on wariness toward a serious Korea squad playing with a military service exemption on the line, surprise that the TV ratings beat those of a full international, and bickering over people’s like or dislike of soccer itself.
■Asian Games Men’s Soccer Semifinal: Japan 1-1 Uzbekistan (Sept. 30, Nagai Stadium, Osaka)
[Full list] Japan’s soccer squads for the Asian Games confirmed — women aim for an unprecedented third straight title, men aim for their first title in four tournaments since Guangzhou 2010
In the semifinal, the Japan U-21 men’s national soccer team beat Uzbekistan’s U-21 side in a penalty shootout to reach the final. Japan conceded an opening goal in the 8th minute of the first half but equalized in the 43rd minute of the second half with a header from Sena Ishibashi (20). The match remained level through extra time, and Japan won the shootout, putting itself one win away from its first gold medal in 16 years. Japan will face Korea, chasing a third consecutive title, in the October 3rd final.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
a dead-serious Korea squad with a military exemption on the line
Yeah, Japan's losing this one
The bus will probably take the Korean players somewhere insane again (there's been a running joke this Asian Games about buses getting lost or breaking down)
That military exemption thing must make opponents go easy on them, in a way — it's awkward to play against.
When someone's playing with their whole life on the line, radiating that much desperation, it's hard to bring yourself to crush them
0-0 drags on forever
No shots at all, just endless passing
It all comes down to a coin-flip penalty shootout
No intricate strategy like baseball has
Guys flop dramatically without even being touched
Snitching to the ref to get opponents sent off
Cheap shots thrown when the ref isn't looking
Japanese national team players getting arrested
Soccer fans have low standards of behavior too
"Intricate strategy like baseball" lmaooooo
But you watched it, right? Posting less than a minute in, lol
"Soccer sucks!" "Baseball sucks!"
Idiots. Normal people just enjoy both
Learned it from his senpai, Shinji Kagawa
The Uzbek keeper was arguing with the ref about it
That'd only happen if the sky and earth swapped places — no interest in watching that
Japan really is a soccer-obsessed country
Lol 😅 Moriyasu-ball really is way too boring (nickname for coach Moriyasu's cautious tactics)
Well, that was just a friendly. Big difference from the real thing
For the past several years the youth categories have basically been a two-horse race between Uzbekistan and Japan
This is the de facto final
If it comes down to these two countries at the LA Olympics too, that'd be about right
Either finish 1st in Asia
or top 3 in the world —
that's supposedly the exemption condition (for Korea)
Korea's only exemption conditions are an Asian Games gold medal or an Olympic gold/silver/bronze
Apparently the Korean Puyo Puyo player was banking everything on this Asian Games, but he got beaten by an 11-year-old (´・ω・`) (Puyo Puyo is one of the esports events)
https://tadaup.jp/9t58OmBd.jpg
My guess is it scooped up people who were planning to watch Wednesday Downtown instead (a popular variety show in the same time slot)
Official tournaments really do pull good ratings.
Even though it's "just" a youth-level Asian Games event, it beat a full international —
guess it just exposed how pointless friendlies are
Men's volleyball final: Oct. 2, 19:20
What are they gonna do about that?
Why aren't they using BS-TBS this time? They could just air one of them there
Wasn't TBS supposed to prioritize volleyball? Though soccer would pull better ratings
Probably volleyball. Though I'd bet soccer gets the better ratings
So the Asian Cup doesn't count? Because it's not a youth event?
Single-sport tournaments like the Asian Cup just don't count
I also think the Asian Cup should count for soccer.
Guess these multi-sport games are considered more important?
Though apparently other sports have complained about that too
Supposedly if things like a World Cup semifinal or a WBC runner-up finish earned an exemption, people said it'd be unfair since it's just one sport — so it ended up restricted to just the Olympics and Asian Games
Asian Games
TBS
"Thank you, Japan U-21 soccer team 😭 Our ratings went up."
lolol
https://gzo.ai/i/GoeB7PA.webp
And with that face, he's absurdly good at soccer too
Background and Talking Points
Korea’s military service exemption requires either an Olympic medal or an Asian Games gold, and eligibility is limited to just those two events — results at the World Cup or WBC don’t count, a restriction put in place after criticism that single sports were getting special treatment. In this tournament, the Japan U-21 team is chasing its first gold medal in 16 years, since the 2010 Guangzhou Games, and its final opponent is a Korea side that has won three straight titles in this category. In the thread, the main talking points were the perennial “soccer is boring” argument and fans pushing back on it, plus surprise that this match drew higher ratings than the senior team’s friendlies — likely down to differences in the opponent’s profile and the tournament format, though the thread doesn’t dig into the reasons in much depth.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Express+) thread “[Soccer] Japan U-21 men’s team wins brutal penalty-shootout battle, one win from first gold medal in 16 years! Final is a third straight “Japan vs. Korea” clash.”
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