In the end, he was satisfied with the 20th victory against Korea and Japan, and showed better performance in the second game of Moriyasu
Jul 12, 2025
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This is the words of Hajime Moriyasu, coach of the Japanese national soccer team A.
Japan beat China 2-0 in the second round of the 2025 East Asian Football Confederation (EAFF) E-1 Championship (East Asian Cup) held at Yongin Mir Stadium on the 12th. Japan will decide its final ranking in the third match against South Korea on the 15th.
After the game, Moriyasu "We prepared well for a very difficult game. I tried hard. He responded well even when things didn't go well. I think fighting patiently led to good results. The players' challenging posture and the attitude of doing it until the end were the winning factors. They were seen as a team. In the second game, I think I showed better performance, and I think the players who fought against difficult challenges were good"Starting with three-back, he instructed change." He ordered changes to match the situation of the game against China, and the players responded smoothly and well."
Japan beat Hong Kong 6-1 in the first game. However, on this day, he scored only one point even after hitting hard in the first half. Moriyasu "I struggled quite a bit in the first half. It was a difficult situation. After the first half, he asked to pass the seized ball a little more firmly and deliver it to a wide area. After taking the ball away, he said to face the opponent's goal with a long pass, not a simple pass. I talked about passing so that I could attack more at the gate. Since such an attempt was not seen in the first half, he said, "Let's improve the quality of pass play." Rather than playing safely, let's actively challenge and play in a wide area using forward strikers." In terms of defense, China was trying to counterattack, so let's manage the risk by simply handling the ball." Let's not give space to the opponent, but let's change the offense and defense quickly while maintaining balance." Our defensive strategy was to prevent our opponents from getting into a good position."
Veteran Yuto Nagatomo, born in 1986, started the day. It was the first A team match in two years and eight months since the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Moriyasu said, `I think Nagatomo's presence was very large. Nagatomo played his first match for the Japanese national team since the World Cup. He looked like a player who had not played for the national team for a long time. Most of the Chinese players had experience in World Cup qualification, and considering this, I thought the next match against Korea would be very difficult. But we didn't let our guard down, and we did a good job of keeping our minds together and preparing. Still, Nagatomo is a very important player. Won both the aerial ball contest and the physical fight. We have to communicate within the team, and I think communicating with all the players is very helpful to the team, and Nagatomo is doing well in this area", he explained.
"I had the option to call Nagatomo during the World Cup qualifiers. In this competition, the same concerns were made about whether to use Nagatomo or not. I said I wanted to play with all the players before the game. I've played two games so far, and I've played all but one goalkeeper. I'm not saying I used Nagatomo for this reason, but I wanted to let all the players play. Nagatomo showed his ability to play at the international level on the international stage," he added.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
