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The story
On October 3, in the Asian Games football final at Toyota Stadium, the Japan U-21 national team lost 0-1 to the South Korea U-23 national team, missing out on their first title in four editions and settling for silver. This marked the third straight tournament in which the final came down to a Japan-South Korea matchup, with Japan having lost to South Korea in the previous two editions as well. The thread’s comments ranged widely — from assessments of midfielder Yokoyama’s performance and technical gripes about his crossing, to questions about event operations (“tickets sold out but the stands looked empty”), speculation on who the next senior national team manager will be, and debate over team-building policy, namely how to balance the Olympic generation with the Asian Games generation.
On October 3, the Japan U-21 national team faced the South Korea U-23 national team in the Asian Games final at Toyota Stadium in Aichi Prefecture. This was the third straight tournament in which the final came down to a Japan-South Korea clash, and Japan had lost to South Korea in the previous two editions. With the tournament being held on home soil this time, hopes for the title were higher than ever, but Japan came up just short, losing 0-1 to South Korea and missing out on its first championship in four editions.
[Photo] The moment a South Korean midfielder’s hand struck a Japanese player’s face, drawing blood
Having beaten the Uzbekistan U-21 team in a penalty shootout in the semifinal, Japan made ten lineup changes for the final, with only midfielder Hisatsugu Ishii — the team’s top scorer this tournament with three goals — staying in the starting eleven. Goalkeeper Rui Araki started, along with captain and defender Rion Ichihara anchoring the back line, midfielder Yotaro Nakajima, and forward Uche Brian Nwadike among the starters.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
He never even tries to run into space.
He's like old Usami but with worse finishing.
Football starts once the ball's actually at your own feet, man.
That's just schoolyard-bully stuff from PE class.
The thing with Yokoyama is he just doesn't run into space.
Well, it's very Cerezo — kind of close to Kakitani.
Usami could at least straight-up kill it on shooting, so he could dominate against weak opponents.
That's way too disrespectful to Nakajima (different kanji here — a jab implying a different player entirely).
Nakajima does that selfish "look-at-me" dribbling, but his mid-range shooting was good. (オナドリ = slang short for "onanie dribble," i.e. ball-hogging, show-off dribbling)
Makes you wonder if Nakajima would still be shining now if he'd just picked the right transfer club.
Against a South Korea squad that's just U-23s plus a couple of overage players, our U-21s should be thrashing them — that's the bare minimum.
What are you even making excuses for?
Fielding pros and still losing isn't an excuse.
Face it — our "ball-kicking" is below South Korea's, that's the reality.
It was a real match, and there was plenty of good buildup play.
The forwards being shaky has been obvious since the Uzbekistan game.
Yokoyama's picked up a bad habit of hitting crosses dead straight.
A cross should be more about dropping it in, like Ito's crosses for the senior national team.
Nobody can connect with the crosses Yokoyama's putting in.
Yokoyama loses the ball a lot, so you can't exactly commit numbers into the box for him.
And his cross timing doesn't make much sense either.
To give you a real answer: that wouldn't mean much, since the U-23s just won the Asian Cup in a blowout this past January.
Soccer: Japan wins U-23 Asian Cup for the second straight time, beats China 4-0
January 25, 2026
Japanese players celebrating their U-23 Asian Cup title at the award ceremony (Jan. 24, Jeddah) — Getty/Kyodo
The U-23 (under-23) Asian Cup final was held on the 24th in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with Japan cruising to a 4-0 win over China to claim back-to-back titles.
The actual U-23 best XI is full of overseas-based players — you couldn't call them up to begin with.
Probably local companies bought up the tickets or something.
Same deal as baseball, lol.
It's Toyota's home turf, so of course they just handed tickets out.
Watching soccer's a waste of time anyway — wouldn't go even if it were free.
South Korea's side is U-23s plus overage players, though.
Where's he even aiming that pass?
Felt like watching old Nakata out there.
This group of players has no track record of ever moving up to the senior national team.
They were past Asian Games squad members, you know.
Unlike the old days, there are now too many overseas-based players to release for the Asian Games.
That's why not a single member of the Hangzhou Asian Games squad made it to the senior national team.
The Asian Games from four years ago —
zero players from that squad are on the senior national team now.
https://www.jfa.jp/national_team/u22_2023/asiangames_hangzhou_2022_men/member.html
Also, are they still banking on Michiwaki?
Is this guy really good enough for the senior team? South Korea was weak out there.
And yet Oiwa still couldn't get the win.
He got injured.
Kosugi played the full match last game, so that was never gonna happen.
Though the management not being able to field the regulars for the final is a bit sketchy.
Obviously he's not making the senior team.
It's "Master" Michiwaki we're talking about, lol.
No way, absolutely not.
Just look at Nagoya and you'll get it, lol.
Oniki's family is against it — they can't stand the thought of his father getting slandered online as badly as Moriyasu has been.
Oniki's family opposes it too, for the same reason — they can't bear his father getting bashed online the way Moriyasu has been.
This guy looks like he could make the senior team.
Is that what they call a "rebound step"?
The way he bursts forward vertically, like pushing off a wall, looks so satisfying.
Did the Usami/Ienaga type "shuffle-in-place statue" dribblers actually survive at the senior level? (コネコネ地蔵 = slang for players who just fiddle with the ball in place like a stationary statue instead of advancing)
Background and Talking Points
This year’s U-21 squad was put together right after the U-23 national team crushed China 4-0 to win the Asian Cup in January 2026, which fueled thread comments arguing that “the Olympic generation has already delivered results, so there’s no need to force a separate generation.” Countering that, others pointed out that most U-23 regulars play overseas and are hard to call up in the first place, underscoring just how tricky the development strategy really is. Another recurring point was that “almost no one from past Asian Games squads has stuck with the senior national team” — commenters noted that not a single player from the 2022 Hangzhou squad remains on the senior roster today. Note that the individual player assessments reflect reactions to this one match and aren’t meant as definitive verdicts on anyone’s future potential. Also, the “tickets sold out but the stands looked empty” question is just an impression about the venue — the thread never got past speculation on the cause, and nothing there should be read as a confirmed fact.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geino/Sports Hōsoku+) thread “[Soccer] Japan U-21 loses to South Korea, takes Asian Games silver — sold-out final… misses first title in 16 years.”
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