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The story
In Matchday 3 of the UEFA Champions League league phase, Aston Villa faced Norway’s Viking FK and won 3-1. Japan national team goalkeeper Zion Suzuki started and played the full match, contributing to the win with precise long feeds and key saves. With their third straight win to open the campaign, Aston Villa moved to 9 points and the top of the league phase table. On 5ch, many praised Suzuki’s kicking accuracy and the team’s strong form, while others offered sharper takes — noting that goalkeepers tend to be more or less guaranteed playing time, questioning the strength of the opposition, and drawing comparisons with other Japanese players active in Europe.
Matchday 3 of the UEFA Champions League (CL) league phase saw Aston Villa (England) take on Viking (Norway) on the 21st, local time,
and Aston Villa won 3-1.
Aston Villa’s Japan national team goalkeeper Zion Suzuki started and played the full 90 minutes, contributing to the win with accurate long feeds and saves. With three straight wins to open the season, Aston Villa climbed to the top of the league phase standings on 9 points.
Source: youtu.be / Original article here
What people said
Guess it really was for the best that he didn't go to PSG.
Man United was a possibility too, you know.
Serves the baseball fanboys right, lmaooo ("yakibuta" — soccer fans' mocking nickname for baseball fans)
Zion's highlights from the Viking match
https://x.com/Fooootest/status/2113069418209292739?s=20
Seriously such a good player lol
https://x.com/ABEMA_soccer/status/2113001181656256773
Wish he'd pulled this off in the second half against Brazil at the World Cup when Japan was pinned back.
They've got a good speedster to aim for too in Maeda Daizen.
Baseball ("yakyuu" — deliberately childish slang mocking baseball) is finished, though.
Pretty much no stopping that once they got hit with that pinpoint cross.
Using Zion there would be a waste.
you could say his performance rivals Okamoto Kazuma's.
That one's hard to follow.
Apparently Europeans' top 3 favorite manga are Berserk, Vinland Saga (the Viking-era one), and Vagabond.
I always figured Vinland Saga was about sailing for Scandinavia, but turns out they were actually headed for North America, like Canada.
It's nice being the starting keeper — you're basically guaranteed to play.
That just shows that, historically, Japan's attacking players — unlike Son Heung-min — are at a level where it's not even certain they'd start in the Premier League.
On top of that, Japanese players lack the physicality and get injured way more than Son Heung-min does.
It's pretty pathetic for Japan that the one position you can reliably count on seeing in the starting lineup is goalkeeper —
and not even at a top club at that.
Even Neuer was losing his cool.
Nah, Bayern's just weak.
Watching this morning's Viking match, I didn't think they looked strong either —
Zion barely even showed up on screen.
That said, Zion doesn't have that many clean sheets either, does he?
It's still early in the league and the CL, but if this is how it's going,
the outlook for Aston Villa isn't exactly bright.
Well, Zion probably still doesn't fully know his defenders yet either,
so it'll take a bit more time before he really becomes worth watching.
The question is what Aston Villa's results look like by then.
That's because Japan's die-hard soccer fanboys ("saka-buta" — a mocking term for obsessive soccer fans) are more fixated on Korea than on Japan itself.
Background and Talking Points
Starting with the 2024-25 season, the Champions League scrapped the group stage in favor of a “league phase” format, in which 36 clubs play a round-robin schedule to decide who advances. This win puts Aston Villa at 3 wins from 3 and 9 points, significantly boosting their chances of progressing. Opinion on the thread was split over how much credit Suzuki deserves: supporters pointed to the quality of his long feeds and saves, while more cautious posters — citing Viking’s level and comparisons with other Japanese players active in Europe at the same time — warned against getting ahead of themselves. It’s also worth noting, as backdrop to the debate, that goalkeepers are inherently more likely to be guaranteed playing time given the nature of the position.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Soccer] European CL: Aston Villa wins 3 straight & rises to 2nd — GK Zion Suzuki (Japan NT) makes his presence felt with great saves & long passes, beats Viking 3-1.”
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