Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu has a problem – he is yet to work out who his first-choice centre-forward is. Since the beginning of the 2022 World Cup, he has started six different players in the role. Three of those have been selected three times each – Celtic pair Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda and…
Japan boast a dazzling array of attacking talent, giving manager Hajime Moriyasu the best kind of headache as he ponders the make-up of his best side. The Blue Samurai have shifted exclusively to a back four since their World Cup exit on penalties against Croatia, having alternated between that and a back five in Qatar.…
Japan dazzled with their group-stage performance at World Cup 2022, earning the admiration of many a neutral football fan. The Blue Samurai pulled off shock 2-1 victories over European heavyweights Germany and Spain to top Group E – but their fairytale tournament was ended on penalties in the round of 16 against 2018 finalists Croatia.…
The flow of talent from Asia to the upper echelons of European football has been steadily increasing since the turn of the century, as the game’s top clubs have gradually woken up to the untapped potential in the world’s largest continent. There may have been a time when club executives viewed Asian imports as a…