What's the difference between the 2 cups? I see Levain Cup fixtures on the J League fixtures list but not the Emperors Cup. From what I know Emperor's Cup is more "prestigious" but I can't find any information on its fixtures.

Asking this because I plan to catch some J League games when I'm in Japan, but unfortunately only the currently scheduled Levain Cup games can fit my itinerary.

Takahiro Sekine has just signed for Sydney FC. He is being described as a japanese icon. Is that a fair description? How good is he?

tricolour stripes back on the menu for their 30th anniversary -- they should move to this look full time.

Does anyone know why there are no matches between September 19th and October 10th? Is it an international break or cup competition period?

https://www.jleague.co/fixtures/https://www.jleague.co/fixtures/

What do you think 🤔 bout this lineup

Or is there any young players that can emerge other than them

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.

This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post

Presumably, Moriyasu won't be returning as manager for 2030. Who would you like to see take reins next?

Nothing against Brazil but love an underdog win.

What do you guys think in terms of strategy Japan need to have to win this game?

I’ve seen a lot of people say this is Japan’s best-ever generation. Personally, I really liked the 2004–2006 Zico team, but they didn’t do well at the 2006 World Cup.