From our other sites
The story
Former Japan national team manager Hajime Moriyasu attended an event in Shizuoka City on the 17th, and when asked about the gap between Japan and Brazil — who beat Japan at the North/Central America World Cup — he pointed to “the speed of decision-making.” He recalled a moment where Vinicius easily nutmegged Takehiro Tomiyasu, and another where Kaishu Sano was knocked off balance and fell on his backside, saying “I’d never seen anything like that before.” His successor has already been decided: Tsuyoshi Oiwa, manager of Japan’s U-21 national team. Commenters on the thread were split over whether the gap came down to individual player ability or to managerial decisions — epitomized by Carlo Ancelotti’s in-game adjustments.
Japan national team manager Hajime Moriyasu attended an event in Shizuoka City on the 17th themed “Looking Back on the World Cup.” Asked about the gap with Brazil, who beat Japan at the tournament co-hosted by three North/Central American nations, he said, “What I felt the difference in was the speed of decision-making.” He also brought up Vinicius’s dribbling, recalling, “There was a moment where Tomiyasu got nutmegged easily, and another where Sano (Kaishu) was knocked off balance and fell on his backside. I’d never seen anything like that before.”
On Tsuyoshi Oiwa, manager of the U-21 (under-21) national team who has already been named his successor, Moriyasu said, “I hope he’ll boldly take on the challenge of winning the game right in front of him, for the sake of Japanese football’s development.”
Source: 47news.jp / Original article here
What people said
Ao Tanaka's decision-making is top notch though
He went up against Saka and Rice of mighty Arsenal in the world's strongest league, the Premier League, beat them, dominated on both ends of the pitch, and got rave reviews abroad for it
Rice had already been singling him out by name for praise before this, too —
not some other Japanese player, specifically Tanaka
That's 'malícia' (Brazilian football cunning) for you
Brazil was scooping up basically every second ball
I've never once seen Japan pull off a good counter-attack
Guess you didn't watch the England game at Wembley, then
If Kaoru Mitoma were out there —
he's the only one who can actually pull off a lightning-fast counter
That's why the decisions come so slow
No real rewards or punishments
A federation that always lets things slide
This is what happens when it's all Japanese insiders covering for each other
It's a big 'what if,' but with a different manager and a squad reselected to include the guys left off for North/Central America, I feel like Japan could've made the quarterfinals (maybe even caused an upset and made the final four)
Round of 32 is basically the floor for the talent Japan actually has — it's got nothing to do with the manager's ability
Ancelotti adjusted mid-game and went straight after Japan's weak points
Especially the coaches
[Barcelona]
・Raphinha
・Jesus
[Arsenal]
・Gabriel
・Guimarães
[Chelsea]
・João Pedro
[PSG]
・Marquinhos
[Real Madrid]
・Vinicius
[Liverpool]
・Alisson
The issue was that a manager at Ancelotti's level has insane in-game adjustment skills, and there was probably player fatigue too
Too much travel, plus camping in hot locations — that stuff adds up
Like France, they'd get heckled as 'Team Africa, Japan edition' or whatever and it'd mess with their heads
Feels more like some kind of judo-esque, combat-sport skill to me
I do think Japan could've won if they'd had enough usable pieces left, though
In the end, all that was left on the bench were scrubs and inexperienced youngsters
Shiogai (lol) Koki Ogawa (lol) Nagatomo (lol) Machino (lol) Yuito Suzuki (lol) Goto (lol)
If they'd been playing with an actual tactical system instead of a strict pecking order, the gap with the bench guys wouldn't have been this huge
Then in the Brazil match he dragged his starters through the first half until they were exhausted, and in the second half swapped in players who weren't used to the rhythm, weakening the team further
He couldn't adapt to Ancelotti's tactical changes either — just making the same substitutions at the same pre-decided times no matter what…
Eight years in the job, and that's the result. I think the managerial gap was massive too
He picked a bunch of young attackers precisely because they weren't there — and then apparently didn't use a single one of them
At the very least he should've called up a dribbler like Ryunosuke Sato or Soma as a replacement for Mitoma, but instead it was Goto and Shiogai
And in the Brazil match, for some reason he put in Machino, who'd only just been added to the squad late, and it was a disaster
There was a big failure in player selection too
Because he thinks it's got nothing to do with him
There's nobody who can put coaching into words logically and systematically
Everyone's like Kazushige Nagashima (a famous ex-athlete known for vague, feel-over-logic commentary)
Japan is overwhelmingly short on real coaches
Beating Brazil without those three is exactly where a manager's real ability gets tested
In the end it's football where individual players have to pull it off themselves — meaning there's no real tactical philosophy from the manager at all — so when individual quality runs short, you lose, plain and simple. That's all there is to it
Background and Points of Debate
Hajime Moriyasu served as Japan’s national team manager from 2018 and stepped down after Japan’s Round of 16 exit at the North/Central America World Cup; his successor has been decided as Tsuyoshi Oiwa, who currently leads the U-21 national team. What split the thread was whether the gap with Brazil comes down to “individual ability” or “managerial decisions.” Posters citing the strong form of Premier League-based players like Ao Tanaka and Kaoru Mitoma argued individual quality is what matters, clashing with those who pointed to Carlo Ancelotti’s in-game adjustments and substitution timing — with some also criticizing the thin bench that resulted from not calling up Hidemasa Morita. As the article itself shows, Moriyasu’s own comments stuck to the abstract phrase “decision-making,” with little concrete discussion of tactics.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuho+) thread “[Soccer] The Gap with Brazil Was ‘Decision-Making’ — Japan Manager Moriyasu.”
Leave a Reply