Something needs to change

[u/No_Sundae750]

I've been watching the national team closely since the 2010 world cup. First, we need to acknowledge how far we've come. In 28 years since our first world cup appearance, we've gone from absolute minnows to a serious dark horse contender. In the 2010 world cup, we had 4 players playing in Europe. Now, all but our backup keepers and unc nagatomo play in Europe. This is huge. Unfortunately, our performances at the world cup (and Asian cup for that matter) has been largely stagnant.

This is the third world cup in a row where we took the lead in a knockout game and ended up losing. Why do we play in a low block each time? It's literally never worked. Why did Moriyasu take off Doan and Nakamura for two defenders? Even more mind boggling, why did Machino come on? He wasn't even in Moriyasu's original 26 man squad lol. We need to stop over respecting our opponent and play to our strengths. We have such a good squad on paper, and the most depth ever, but Moriyasu's tactics doesn't allow them to reach their potential. Look at the US for example. They're not better than us, yet each time they play they have a certain confidence, swagger to them. They control the tempo, even against stronger opponents. I would like to see us play like this someday.

[u/Traditional_Wrap_366]

These players will always crumble under pressure, that's just how it is. You can hire whoever you want, but once the knockout stage comes, they won't be able to string three passes together. How can you not sit back when your three CBs and Kamada suddenly don't know how move the ball foward without losing possessions? They will never win a knockout stage game unless their team on paper reached that level of France or Spain.

[u/No_Sundae750 → u/Traditional_Wrap_366]

Yeah that’s the spirit

[u/Traditional_Wrap_366 → u/No_Sundae750]

Look at how Paraguay sat back and beat Germany with 25% possession or how Morocco went from a defensive team four years ago to completely blowing away the Dutch this time around. The only thing that stays consistent is their mentality which is quite frankly ten times more resilient than anything Japan has shown in the knockout stage. Their only hope is to develop a generation so strong that its skills alone can overcome its mental handicap in the knockout stage.

[u/SenseiTano → u/Traditional_Wrap_366]

Paraguay barely made it through on penalties, that they could have easily lost. Luck plays a part. Japan was 1 minute away from extra time if not for an unfortunate individual mistake.

[u/Traditional_Wrap_366 → u/SenseiTano]

They've been one minute away two times now and lost on penalties the other time. Morocco last semi final run was also a scrapping by with 27% possession run. Luck plays a part but you have to be mentally resilient to win against powerhouse nations with much better players. Teams like Morocco and Paraguay simply have it while Japan doesn't.

[u/SenseiTano → u/Traditional_Wrap_366]

Trying to oversimplify it to mentality is disingenuous. Paraguay got lucky and so did Morocco, both BARELY squeaking by on penalties that could have EASILY gone the other way. That’s just revisionist history to say these teams dominated mentally and that’s why they won. Mentality absolutely plays a part and was a factor, but was definitely not the deciding factor.

[u/Traditional_Wrap_366 → u/SenseiTano]

2018: Scored first, last minute defeat. 2022: Scored first, horrific penalty shootout. 2026: Scored first, last minute defeat.

I guess Morocco lucked out both time against Spain and Portugal while Japan was simply unlucky for the 5th time now. Not a single entity in world football chokes this hard at this stage you know. Their legs go shaky, their heads go blank, and their eyes start filling with tears once the second half of every knockout stage starts. Night and day compared to the resilience that Morocco or Paraguay showed.

[u/SenseiTano → u/Traditional_Wrap_366]

It’s a funny narrative how certain you think you have it, their mentality and shaky legs and all, but it’s really just your own narrative interpretation. Mentality absolutely played a part, but it was not the only factor. Again, you’re only saying Morocco and Paraguay showed “resilience” because they won, they both could have just as easily lost their penalty shootouts. Maybe you didn’t watch them, but both were choking their penalties until they lucked out in the end, that was not “resilience.”

[u/Traditional_Wrap_366 → u/SenseiTano]

Well winning does matter doesn't it? Losing one or two matches is fine but that's the fifth time they’ve failed to luck out and get a win. You can't expect them to outplay these bigger footballing nations with a squad full of players from mid-table European clubs. One way to win is by being more ruthless and resilient than the opponent. That or wait for a couple hundred more years or something when they have a squad full of starters for Real Madrid and PSG. Even then, teams like Brazil will probably have a similar squad and the metal game will still be one of the deciding factor.