Moriyasu to Step Down as Japan Coach by Year’s End, Oiwa Takes Over as New Manager — 5ch Dubs Him ‘King of Friendlies’

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The story

Kyodo News reported on November 5 that Japan national team manager Hajime Moriyasu will finish his tenure by the end of this year, confirming that incoming manager Takeshi Oiwa will take charge of the national team from March next year as planned. Moriyasu is known as the mastermind behind Japan’s 2022 World Cup upsets over Germany and Spain, but his recent matches have leaned heavily on friendlies. On 5ch, opinions split between those who felt his departure came “too late” and those defending his achievements, with further debate over the practical question of how incoming manager Oiwa will handle the scheduling clash between the Asian Cup and the U-23 Asian Cup.

11/5 (Thu) 20:14 — Kyodo News

It was confirmed on the 5th that Japan national team manager Hajime Moriyasu will finish his tenure by the end of this year, with incoming manager Takeshi Oiwa set to take charge of the national team from March next year as planned.

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:20
He should've bowed out gracefully right after the World Cup.
4AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:20
So they basically just wasted about 9 months lol
5AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:21
Any coach who calls up Ogawa instead of Shoto Suzuki should resign immediately.
42AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:31
Re: #5
More importantly, what about Sakamoto lmaooo
8AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:22
Forget this nobody — Cristiano Ronaldo ("Kuriruona" to Japanese fans) just retired from his national team too
9AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:22
Hindsight talking, but I don't get what the point of stretching it out a year was.
Honestly it was already a mistake having Moriyasu go into the Asian Cup in the first place.
11AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:22
They're probably scrambling to find opponents willing to play friendlies in Japan in January and February.
13AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:23
First match is in Hiroshima again, second one's at the National Stadium.
The JFA really loves Hiroshima.
14AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:23
So December 30th is the handover ceremony.
Guess the comments will be wall-to-wall "Thank you, Poichi (sniff)" (Moriyasu's nickname).
27AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:25
Re: #14
Wait, they could only call up A-team players because of the Asian Cup — now that the Asian Cup's been postponed, isn't there no justification for calling them up at all? 🤔
40AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:30
Re: #14
Well, it'll probably end up framed as Moriyasu's farewell match, so it works out neatly in the end.
15AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:23
And here I was hoping for the birth of "Coach Tarao"! (a joking nickname, playing off the generic-sounding name)
17AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:23
Just resign already.
Let Oiwa handle the rest of this year's matches too.
20AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:24
Even the god of that totally minor pastime (baseball), Ohtani, couldn't help but crack a smile at this.
21AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:24
Thanks for your service, Moriyasu.
Now go get the pinch hitter warmed up.
22AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:24
Kind of feel bad for him, honestly.
He was probably all fired up to go through to the Asian Cup in January,
but there's no way he'd have lasted until next December.
23AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:24
He really should've stepped down the moment the World Cup ended.
Well, at least the Asian Cup getting postponed moved his departure up — silver lining.
24AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:24
Please don't ever get involved with the national team again.
44AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:31
Re: #24
Maybe he's aiming for the top of the JFA next.
33AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:28
Perfect timing — the Sint-Truiden (Belgian club) manager job just opened up.
34AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:28
Good thing he won't have to suffer the embarrassment of a crushing loss at the Asian Cup now.
36AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:28
Fine, but what about the fact that the Asian Cup and the U-23 Asian Cup schedules completely overlap?
There's no way Oiwa can be at both.
39AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:30
Re: #36
It's pretty likely the U-23 Asian Cup schedule will get shifted.
The Asian Cup and the youth tournaments have never overlapped before.
41AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:30
Re: #36
The U-23 tournament is likely to move to March 2028.
They definitely won't hold it at the same time.
63AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:38
Re: #36
Building everything around Oiwa from the start is the root of this whole mess.
37AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:29
Mr. Friendly Matches, who kept losing when it counted in actual tournaments yet somehow kept getting praised by the media.
Now Saudi Arabia reads the room and lets him wrap it all up neatly with a nice friendly win.
43AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:31
Sure he's lost his spark lately, but he's the man behind that miraculous 2022 World Cup run — people are being awfully cold to him.
47AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:32
Re: #43
The real heroes were the players.
45AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:31
Having Moriyasu lead the Asian Cup was a mistake from the start.
Letting Oiwa get the experience instead is clearly the better call.
46AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:32
Nobody can win no matter who's coach, so why not just not have one? I don't get why they don't just skip it — though maybe the rules don't allow that.
49AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:33
There's not even an Asian tournament happening, and they're still paying him through March? lol
65AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:39
Re: #27
The Bundesliga/Belgian-league guys can get called up regardless of their clubs during the winter break…
70AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:41
Re: #65
They can't call them up without the club's permission.
There's no way they get free rein over players during the winter break.
71AnonymousNov 5, 2026 20:42
He was a coach who beat plenty of powerhouses, to be fair:
South Korea, Germany (x2), Spain, England, Brazil, Turkey, Uruguay, Tunisia, Scotland, Canada, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia —
and he still gets mocked as the "King of Friendlies."
Everyone was loving it at the time, though.
What a spoiled era we live in now. Baseball's finished.

Background and Key Points of This Topic

Manager Hajime Moriyasu is known for his landmark wins over Germany and Spain at the 2022 World Cup, but in recent matches he’s leaned heavily on friendlies, leaving behind a record of toppling powerhouses that coexists with a persistent “he’s not delivering results” critique. Behind this resignation report is the fact that the handover to incoming manager Takeshi Oiwa, originally planned for after the Asian Cup, got moved up because the Asian Cup itself was postponed. Notably, the thread’s interest centered less on the timing of Moriyasu’s departure itself and more on the practical question of how the incoming Oiwa regime will handle the scheduling clash between the Asian Cup and the U-23 Asian Cup. Opinions on the “King of Friendlies” label split depending on whether people weigh his results against top teams separately from his record in actual tournaments — and readers should keep in mind that both views only capture part of the picture.

*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Soccer] Manager Hajime Moriyasu to Step Down by Year’s End, New Manager Takes Over in March.”

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