In the past few days, all the focus of the Japanese team has still been around Junya Ito, the main right winger who was accused of sexual assault. In the end, after the twists and turns of leaving, staying, and leaving the team again, the Japan Football Association finally made a decision to let Ito The decision to leave early.
Although the players have expressed their desire to fight with Ito, if Ito stays on the team, the team's preparations and the focus of the outside world cannot only be on football. Therefore, the Japan Football Association's decision is also to allow the team to concentrate on subsequent games.
At the same time that Ito left, the front midfielder Reio, who left the field injured in the last game against Bahrain, was basically determined to be unable to play in the following games of this tournament. Therefore, Japan predicted that the injured left winger Kaoru Misaki must return to the starting lineup early. lineup, otherwise it will be very detrimental to the Japanese team's offense. However, after the starting lineup was announced, Ito's original right winger was expected to be replaced by Ritsu Dogan, but the candidate for the left winger was Celtic's Dairan Maeda.
In the end, the Japanese team was reversed by Iran with one goal ahead. The original goal of the Japanese team in this Asian Cup was to win the championship, but the result of not even reaching the semi-finals is definitely unacceptable. However, the ultimate goal of this Japanese team is to enter the top 8 in the 2026 World Cup. Therefore, Moriyasu's position as coach will not hinder him, but his reputation will definitely be pulled back to reality from the "capable star" in the World Cup.
The focus of the Japanese team's participation in this Asian Cup has not been on tactics and strategy. After all, there are too many things happening inside and outside the stadium, from the injury of the three-goal champion to the young Aya Suzuki's consecutive mistakes that were amplified by the outside world, to the truly explosive performance of Iran. Dong Junya was suspected of sexual assault and had to leave the team early, which were all factors that were not conducive to the Japanese team. Until the end, the three-goal king failed to play the entire game, and even played only 45 minutes in total, which has to be said to be a big regret. Of course,
lost to Iran today. From the beginning, we can see how tough the Iranian team is. Since the Japanese team's defense core, Itakura Koji, received a yellow card in the 24th minute, the defense has been targeted by opponents. Seiya Tokuma, who performed well in the first two games, also became the target of the opponent's attack, and Itakura Koji finally ended up with He was pushed into the penalty area by his opponents many times, and in the end he blew his head and made a hasty tackle to give away points, ending his "war criminal" level performance.
In fact, Mori Yasuichi's substitutions were obviously a little late. The first two substitutions were made in the 66th minute, but the three-goal champion and Minamino had almost no outstanding performance after coming up; and the defense line has been targeted, and Itakura Koji's performance was another It's very hip-stretching. Is it better to change in time to the three central defenders that were used in the last game, or to use Machida Hiroki with a tougher playing style? After the game, Mori Yasuichi did say that the loss was also related to his substitution mistakes. However, when asked after the game whether Mori Yasuichi would be fired because of the Asian Cup, the current chairman of the Japan Football Association Tajima Kozo said that he had never considered this matter.
After the game, the Japanese team still gathered in a circle and Mori Yasuichi lectured him, but what Mori Yasuichi really needs to consider is if there is really no Ito Junya in the future, who else can be used on the right? Don'an Ritsu sticks to the ball and can only play inside. Kubo will be the same if he plays this way. Mori Yasuichi has never had a headache on the right side in the past few years, but from the current point of view, there is really no answer to this question. Without Ito's strong breakthrough, Mori Yasuichi's tactics would also need to be adjusted.
But having said that, there is no need to feel particularly frustrated. After all, the Japanese team is the opponent that is always targeted in the Asian Cup. Even against Iran, the ball possession rate reached 60%. But in the World Cup or against a truly super strong team, the Japanese team is at a disadvantage and can fight back. This is what Mori Yasuichi has determined to focus on breakthroughs during this four-year preparation period. If this is resolved, the World Cup will still be a success, but that will be it for the Asian Cup.
Game review:
Within the first minute of the opening, the Iranian team made two consecutive vicious fouls, uprooting and tripping Maeda Daran and Kubo Takehide respectively; in the 4th minute, Azmon stepped on Tomiyasu Kenyo's ball while fighting in the midfield. On the foot, 2 minutes later, he faced Morita Hidemasa after the ball was released, and knocked Morita down again. This also destined that the intensity of this game was different from before.
In the 14th minute, the Japanese team's offense shifted from the left to the right. Doan Ritsu stuffed the ball near the sideline. Makoto Seiya made a pass. Ueda Kiryo missed the ball while grabbing the ball and kicked it at the opponent's defender Khalilzadeh. on the legs. In the 19th minute, Don'an Ritsu, Maeda Daran, Ueda Kiryo and Tokuma Seiya stole the ball in front of the penalty area. Don'an Ritsu's left-footed shot hit the opponent and bounced out of the baseline.
In the 24th minute, Kubo Takehide's through ball was intercepted during the attack and the Iranian team counterattacked. Mohbi's midfielder strode past the ball. Itakura Fang blocked the foul and was shown the first yellow card of the game by Chinese referee Ma Ning. In the 28th minute, the Japanese team broke the deadlock. Morita Hidemasa crossed the left side of the midfielder into the penalty area. Kiryo Ueda took the ball with his back and knocked it horizontally. Morita followed up and dribbled the ball horizontally before shooting low. Iran goalkeeper Beiranvand fell to the ground and blocked it with his legs, but the ball was It still bounced into the goal, and the Japanese team led 1-0.
After scoring the goal, the rhythm of both sides slowed down a lot. The Japanese team had no absolute chance, but the Iranian team used long passes to create a threat. In the 35th minute, Gudos received the pass and first grabbed the point and passed Itakura Hōji. Then he volleyed in front of the penalty area and missed. After 3 minutes of stoppage time in the first half, the Japanese team ended with a 1-0 lead. In terms of half-time statistics, the Japanese team controlled 59% of the ball, but fell behind 4 to 6 in shooting, with both sides having only one shot on target.
Only 2 minutes after the change of sides, Ueda Kiryo directly rode on the head of opponent No. 8 Omid during the frontcourt battle. Ma Ning showed Ueda the second yellow card of the game. In the 50th minute, the Iranian team passed a long pass from the left. Azmon used his body to squeeze away Itakura and then shot a low shot from a small angle but was saved by Ayyan Suzuki. But then the referee flagged Azmon for offside.
In the 51st minute, the Japanese team attacked from the left. Yoki Ito suddenly made a 45-degree pass, and Kiryo Ueda flew over the top in the penalty area. 2 minutes later, Daran Maeda stole the ball in the frontcourt, Hidemasa Morita sent a through ball, and Takehide Kubo spiked the ball in the penalty area and missed with his right foot. In the 55th minute, Aya Suzuki drove the ball to the midfield with a big kick. Azmon received the pass from the midfielder and passed through. Mohebbi inserted into the penalty area and grabbed the ball in front of Itakura Koji and shot the ball low into the goal. Iran team 1-1 equalize the score.
In the 64th minute, the Iranian team's big-footed clearance in the backcourt turned into an assist. Azmon countered offside and passed Itakura Hōki and Tokuma Seiya with a low shot. However, the ball was eventually ruled offside by Var. In the 66th minute, Mori Yasuichi made a substitution. Kaoru Mikaru replaced Daran Maeda, and Takumi Minamino replaced Takehide Kubo. But just as the substitution was completed, Iranian team Mohebbi received a cross from the right and hit the side net with a nod.
In the 72nd minute, the Iranian team attacked Gudos from the left and Mohbi completed a pass from the left. Azmon defeated Ito Hiroyuki in the middle and his header went slightly wide. In the 75th minute, the Japanese team threw a throw-in from the left, Ito Yoki forced a pass, and Ueda Kiryo missed the header from the center.
However, in the subsequent games, it was almost difficult for the Japanese team to reach the frontcourt under the high pressure of the Iranian team. Kaoru Mikasa and Takumi Minamino, who came on the bench, had no chance to perform. Instead, Mohebbi, Gudos, and Ah Zimon and others took turns using crosses from the wing to threaten the Japanese team's goal. In the 3rd minute of stoppage time, the Iranian team moved to the left in a large area. The Iranian team players broke into the penalty area at the first point. Itakura Hōku broke through the top, causing Kenyo Tomiyasu to make a mistake in stopping the ball. Canani entered the penalty area to grab the point and was tripped by Itakura Hōku. Down, Maning awarded a penalty kick. Jahanbakhsh made a free throw and the Iranian team took a 2-1 lead.
Then Mori Yasuichi sent the last two forwards, Asano Takuma and Hosotani Manai, on the field together, replacing Ritsu Donyasu and Morita Hidemasa, but it was too late. The Japanese team's attack after the kick-off was fruitless, and finally at 10 stoppage time Minutes later, the Japanese team suffered a reversal 1-2 and missed the top four.
