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The story
On October 9, the Japan Football Association explained at a technical committee meeting why it decided to keep manager Hajime Moriyasu in charge even after the World Cup in North America. The reasoning: Japan needs to win next year’s Asian Cup to boost its FIFA ranking, since European teams rack up ranking points playing each other in their own Nations League, leaving Japan with few chances to face top-ranked sides and climb the rankings itself. At the meeting, technical committee chairman Masakuni Yamamoto cited the team’s limited number of meals as one factor behind the loss to Brazil, saying, “That one meal made a big difference.” Reactions on 5ch were split — some saw it as a fair point about condition management, while others dismissed it as an “excuse” that glossed over the talent gap, the grueling schedule, and questionable squad-rotation calls.
The Japan Football Association (JFA) held a technical committee meeting on the 9th.
Technical committee chairman Masakuni Yamamoto spoke about the importance of the FIFA ranking. The JFA explained that a key reason it decided to keep manager Hajime Moriyasu (58) on even after the World Cup in North America is the need to win next year’s Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia and raise Japan’s FIFA ranking.
Meanwhile, since the European nations occupying the top spots hold their own Nations League competition, Japan rarely gets to play friendlies against those top-ranked teams, making it hard for Japan’s FIFA ranking to climb.
Source: nikkansports.com / Original article here
What people said
Ao Tanaka €15 million
Daichi Kamada €10 million
Hidemasa Morita €6 million
Takehiro Tomiyasu €5 million
Wataru Endo €3 million
Brazil had a much longer gap between matches.
It's brutal that Moriyasu didn't field a lineup that could actually beat the Netherlands, so he had to go full-strength again against Sweden and wear the players out.
He should've closed out the Netherlands game and rotated the squad for Sweden.
and this is who's picking the coach now.
Mitoma, Minamino, and Endo were out even before the tournament started, then Kubo got injured too — it basically became a whole different team.
I wanted to see the Brazil match with the best lineup available.
How many guys on this Japan squad are actually thriving at major European clubs?
If this were a sport Japan's current roster could win on pure merit, there'd be no clubs paying billions of yen in transfer fees for a single player.
There was an overwhelming gap in team and player quality and in tactics.
Then just eat an energy gel pouch or something.
Enough with the 'human strength' talk already.
but this is one heck of an excuse.
Seriously?
Too little food — sounds just as bad as the food complaints from the Aichi Asian Games (the 2026 Asian Games host region in Japan).
Give me a break.
has moved on to lecturing about food now, huh.
People who get things done don't eat before an important meeting.
nagging on and on about something that's already over.
What do you even mean by "a lineup that could beat the Netherlands"?
Since when did Japan get that strong?
Maeda out, Tanaka in.
Turns out soccer isn't about skill, tactics, or squad depth — it's about meals!!
Food
…lame.
I see. Go ahead and tell me how to make it interesting then.
Background and key points of this story
The reason the JFA gave for keeping manager Moriyasu on was the need to raise Japan’s FIFA ranking by winning next year’s Asian Cup. While European teams secure matches against strong rivals through their own Nations League, Japan isn’t part of that framework and has few chances to face top-ranked opponents even in friendlies. Against that backdrop, technical director Yamamoto’s comment about meal frequency was raised as “one factor” behind the loss — treating it as the whole story misses the point. The thread split between those who saw it as a fair point about condition management, and those who saw it as an excuse that papered over bigger factors: the talent gap, the brutal schedule right after the Sweden match, and the squad-selection calls against the Netherlands. Those who remember Yamamoto’s past fixation on hydration breaks at the Athens Olympics read this as more of the same — sweating the small stuff — and reacted with a fair bit of irony.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Japan National Team] Technical director Masakuni Yamamoto passionately cites meal frequency as a reason for the Brazil loss: “That one meal made a big difference”“.
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