Meet the Japan team who stunned Germany – the Arsenal reject, the inscrutable manager and the veteran defence
Sophia Edwards Japan have sensationally beaten Germany in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Cup. So how did the Samurai Blue beat the four-time world champions for the first time in their history? The Athletic has you covered…
The manager
After nearly eight years — some more turbulent than others — of foreign coaches taking charge of the side, Hajime Moriyasu was a natural pick for a Japan Football Association hoping to unify its preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Games and Qatar 2022.
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The 54-year-old was appointed to lead the country’s Olympic men’s team after winning three J League titles with Sanfrecce Hiroshima and having been an assistant at Russia 2018. A former Japan international, Moriyasu helped win the nation’s first Asian Cup in 1992.
He was also on the pitch during the infamous “Agony of Doha” incident in 1993, when Japan missed out on the following year’s World Cup by surrendering a late equaliser to Iraq in their final group game of a qualifying tournament held in Qatar.
Twenty-nine years on and he has masterminded the “Miracle of Doha”.
Though he was able to steer Japan through a challenging final Asian qualifying group against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, he has rarely had enthusiastic backing from the general public. This will surely now change after two of the substitutes he brought on against Germany — Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano — scored to engineer a remarkable comeback.
Foreign media covering Japan’s press conferences will find him somewhat inscrutable: his interviews over the past two years have been light on tactical detail (he prefers a 4-2-3-1, although sometimes dabbles with a 4-3-3) and heavy on tributes to the medical workers and support staff that have enabled the team to play throughout the pandemic.
The matchwinner
Asano scored the most famous goal in Japan’s history when he beat Manuel Neuer from a tight angle at his near post and it will be an even tougher pill for the Germans to swallow given that he plays his club football in Germany.
The skillful winger plays for VfL Bochum — who are currently second-bottom in the Bundesliga. The 28-year-old was making his 39th appearance for Japan and this was his ninth goal. He joined Arsenal in 2016 when Arsene Wenger was still in charge, but was denied a work permit and never appeared for the club.
The household name you hadn’t heard of
Winger Junya Ito’s European career may be relatively low-key compared to those of some of his peers, with three and a half seasons at Belgium club Genk before a summer move north to Reims in France’s Ligue 1, but the 29-year-old has been a driving force for Japan on the right flank, scoring four goals — including two game-winners — in the final World Cup qualifying group, and also providing two assists.
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He played the full match against Germany and was a constant menace on the right flank for Japan.
His ability to hold up the ball in the attacking third is more than matched by his crosses — which usually have at least one target waiting on the receiving end — and willingness to cut through opposition defenders and bring the ball into the box in order to set up a chance. That ambition is something Japan hasn’t always managed to instil in its players, but Ito is among a number of growing successes in that respect.
Strengths
No strikers? No problem. Just two of Japan’s 12 goals in the final stage of qualifying came from centre-forwards — and Yuya Osako, the two-time World Cup veteran who scored them both, was a shock omission from this squad.
Instead, Japan’s attack is personified by its vast array of talented attacking midfielders, all of whom are capable of pulling a rabbit out of a hat when the occasion calls. It therefore came as no surprise that neither of their scorers against Germany were strikers.
Japan’s dressing room has plenty of leaders but no egos — a positive omen for a team that has historically thrived when the collective has been put before any individual superstars, as we saw when the 2010 vintage reached the last 16, where they took Paraguay to penalties. Can they take the momentum from beating Germany and do even better in Qatar?
Weaknesses
Japan’s lack of killer instinct — whether in front of goal or trying to see out a game against a determined opponent in the closing minutes — had been a sore subject that has followed the team for nearly as long as their World Cup aspirations have been taken seriously.
The flip side of the team’s midfield-propelled attack is that there aren’t any superstar forward players capable of carrying this squad on their backs when the occasion calls for it, especially in the post-Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa era. But all of these previous misgivings are likely to be forgotten after beating Germany in their Group E opener in Qatar.
If Japan’s system is prone to collapse anywhere it’s at the back: Veterans Maya Yoshida (34), Yuto Nagatomo (36) and Hiroki Sakai (32) are almost certainly playing in their last World Cups, and the likes of Arsenal’s Takehiro Tomiyasu (24), Ko Itakura (25) and young upstart Hiroki Ito (23) will be tested in their debuts on the big stage. However, the defence hung on against Germany under extreme pressure in the final few minutes.Local knowledge
Japan’s seventh straight World Cup is a testament to the great strides the country has made in developing world-class players since its debut at France 1998. Takeshi Okada’s squad that year featured a full slate of 22 players from the domestic J League, whereas this year’s includes 19 competing for European clubs and an additional three who have extensive European experience.
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The J League itself will celebrate its 30th anniversary next season, having expanded from 10 clubs in 1993 to 60 across three divisions for 2023. But the league’s vaunted academy systems aren’t the only sources of quality talent: nine of Japan’s squad played for university teams before going pro, including Brighton midfielder Kaoru Mitoma.
Hundreds of fans — including Ultra Nippon, the national team’s main supporter group — have made the journey to Qatar, and there were concerns that it would take them time to find their full voice given that singing and chanting has been largely prohibited in Japan since the start of the pandemic. That has all been blown out of the window now, with Japan’s supporters raucously cheering their team on in the final stages against Germany.
Expectations back home
The chance to face two previous world champions in Spain and Germany had been welcomed with excitement and dread in equal measure. It was always going to be a challenge for Japan to escape this group, but after picking up three points against Germany the side will now be dreaming of a famous run deep into the tournament.
Fans approached the tournament with their usual optimism and it has now been proven to have been well-placed. Reaching the knockouts from this group would be considered one of their greatest performances at the World Cup.
Moriyasu would have faced criticism if Japan had completely flopped in Qatar, but after this sensational start he will be confident of keeping the support of the JFA.
Read more: See the rest of The Athletic’s World Cup 2022 squad guides
Read more: Japan was eliminated by Croatia on penalties to advance to the quarterfinals
(Main graphic — photo: Getty Images/design: Eamonn Dalton)
