Japan national team coach Hajime Moriyasu said that the team will have to deal with “anything” in the Asian Football Cup next month, if it wants to win the title for the fifth time.
The Japanese team, runner-up in the 2019 edition and winning the title 4 times, most recently in 2011, is one of the candidates to win the Asian Cup in Qatar, which begins on January 12.
The “Samurai” won the last 8 matches, most notably their crushing victory over Germany 4-1 in a friendly match on September 9, which led to the dismissal of coach Hansi Flick and the appointment of Julian Nagelsmann, and Turkey 4-2 in the friendly Kirin Cup.
🇯🇵⚡️ The Japan national team, who is led by Hajime Moriyasu, made 2 German managers get sacked back-to-back in the recent international break.
✔️ 4-1 win vs Germany = Hansi Flick sacked
✔️ 4-2 win vs Turkey = Stefan Kuntz sacked pic.twitter.com/KCajZwrdIT— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) September 20, 2023
The Japanese national team plays in Group D, alongside Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam.
Moriyasu chose a list of 23 players for the friendly match against Thailand in Tokyo, on January 1, including 15 professional players outside the country, but in the absence of the two Premier League stars, Wataru Endo (Liverpool) and Kawaru Mitoma (Brighton).
The coach expects all players to be available when he chooses the list that will participate in the Asian Cup.
“We want to be perfect in the first match, but we have to be ready to improve in every match, and deal with injuries and other things,” Moriyasu said.
He added, “Physical and tactical preparation is certainly important, but we want to be sure before the start of the competition that we have the required mentality to play strongly and deal with all the obstacles that we will face.”
🇯🇵 Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu is named AFC Men’s Coach of the Year after leading Japan in an unforgettable #FIFAWorldCup campaign!#AFCAwards2022 pic.twitter.com/4PPFgvTxDY
— AFC (@theafcdotcom) October 31, 2023
Moriyasu did not call up players who play in England, Italy and Spain for the friendly match with Thailand, but he did call up players from France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, including Takumi Minamino (Monaco, France), defender Ko Itakura (Borussia Mönchengladbach, Germany), and striker Ayase Ueda. (Dutch Feyenoord).
Moriyasu summoned for the first time Ryutaro Ito, the Belgian St. Truiden striker, and Taichi Brandon Nozawa, the Tokyo goalkeeper.
Coach Moriyasu considered that the match with Thailand “will be an ideal opportunity to prepare for the Asian Cup and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.”
