Japan’s Asian Cup exit sparks wider questions ahead of North Korea trip
Japan’s premature Asian Cup exit and the nature of it has triggered deeper introspection about the state of the national side, with a daunting trip to North Korea for World Cup qualifying in a matter of weeks.
The four-time champions and pretournament favourites were beaten 2-1 by Iran on Saturday in the quarterfinals, having thrown away a first-half lead.
Iran won it with a stoppage-time penalty but in truth they were comfortably the better team in the second half and had several big chances to bury the game before that.
Coach Hajime Moriyasu’s job seems safe but it capped a torrid campaign for Japan, who were never really convincing in their three wins and two defeats in Qatar.
They had problems off the pitch too, with winger Junya Ito leaving the squad after an allegation of sexual assault and goalkeeper Zion Suzuki racially abused online following a string of mistakes. Ito strongly denies the accusation, which relates to an alleged incident in Osaka last year.
Former Japan star Keisuke Honda, who was part of the team that won the Asian Cup in 2011, said the country’s football needed ‘innovative change.’
“The strides we have made until now have been thanks to the football association but it can’t go on like this,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Japan were not helped against Iran by a disastrous performance by centreback Kou Itakura, normally one of their most reliable players. The Borussia Monchengladbach defender was caught flat-footed for Iran’s first goal and got himself into a horrible tangle to give away the decisive penalty.
Itakura was inconsolable after the game, disappearing straight down the tunnel and later blaming himself for the defeat.
“After giving a performance like that I’m not qualified to go out onto the pitch as a national team player,” he said.
The coach later said he had misplayed his substitutions, and was powerless to stop Iran overwhelming his side with a second-half display of strength and aggression.
“Most of our players play in Europe so we’re used to that kind of power, but in the second half we were completely dominated,” said forward Ritsu Doan.
After some public flip-flopping from the Japan Football Association, Ito left the squad, with JFA president Kozo Tashima saying they wanted to protect the team from ‘noise.’
Tashima later said there was no connection between Ito’s departure and the defeat to Iran.
“The players are all professionals and whatever happens they are at a level where they are able to respond to it,” he said.