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The story
On October 1st, at Nissan Stadium, Japan (FIFA world ranking 17th) faced Ecuador (25th) in an international friendly as part of the Kirin Cup. The match finished 0-0 and went to a penalty shootout. Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki pulled off a string of brilliant saves, helping Moriyasu’s Japan win their first penalty shootout since the 2022 Qatar World Cup. On 5ch, threads were full of praise for Ao Tanaka, who’s in red-hot form, while plenty of posters also questioned Takefusa Kubo’s performance, splitting opinion over how to rate the players.
<Kirin Cup: Japan 0 (PK) 0 Ecuador> ◇October 1st◇ Nissan Stadium
Japan (FIFA ranking 17th) took on Ecuador (ranking 25th) and came away with the win after a penalty shootout.
[Photo] Japan vs. Ecuador — Hiroki Ito attempting to meet a cross in the first half
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Read the original article here
What people said
It's turning into a sloppy mess and nothing's going in.
Just stop playing Kubo already.
Yeah, that was exactly the kind of play you'd expect from a guy who's fallen out of favor at Sociedad — that's Kubo for you.
Today's Kubo highlight reel: sitting on the ground appealing for a foul while the pass meant for him got flagged offside.
Whenever Kubo's out there he wants to hog the ball and it just kills the attacking tempo.
Tanaka's line-splitting through balls were ridiculous, gave me chills. His defending was solid too.
Tanaka was just in a different class out there. Makes sense — he's been running the show in the Premier League.
Good thing they subbed him off before he could get lumped in with the guys who lost us the game.
'Sin-Grudge'?! You mean it's really 'Sin-Grudge'?! (a joking kanji spelling of "Zion" — the characters used literally mean "sin" and "grudge" but can be read to sound like his name)
Isn't he the kid who was at the training camp during the World Cup?
Zion-chan is definitely cute 👱🏻♀
Yeah, exactly. I thought the same thing.
At least yesterday's game had a goal in it, so that one was better.
Ecuador left out two of their key players (in that other match) — but they brought them out for the Japan game.
Come on, go easy lol
Because we burn ourselves out in the group stage without thinking about the knockout rounds.
Yeah, the extra hair added weight.
If we're even with South America and dominating Europe, why can't we win a single knockout match?
Korea > Ecuador > Japan
Which means…
Japan 3-1, Uruguay 4-1 Korea.
Uh, Japan won though.
Somehow Seko's starting to look handsome to me.
Theory: he collided with Tomiyasu and they swapped bodies.
Background and talking points
This match wasn’t part of the World Cup proper but a friendly tournament, the Kirin Cup, so it has no direct bearing on rankings or qualification. Even so, it made news for Moriyasu’s Japan winning a penalty shootout for the first time since the 2022 Qatar World Cup. FIFA rankings have Japan at 17th and Ecuador at 25th. Opinion in the thread was split over Takefusa Kubo, with harsh comments piling up that echoed his limited playing time at Real Sociedad, while Ao Tanaka, who’s been delivering results in the Premier League, drew widespread praise. Some posts compared the team to the South Korean national team, but that’s more of a separate flame-war context than commentary on the match itself, and any posts containing discriminatory language have been excluded from this article. Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki’s performance was received favorably.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Soccer] Zion with a heroic save! Moriyasu’s Japan win their first penalty shootout since the 2022 World Cup! Beat Ecuador after a 0-0 draw.”
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