The Remarkable Rise of Japan's National Football Team
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Japan had never qualified for the World Cup before 1998 and didn't even have a professional football league until 1993, yet they beat two former world champions at the 2022 World Cup, just thrashed Germany 4-1, and are now Asia's highest ranked national team.
It is a remarkable rise, instigated by Japan's 100 Year Vision, to have 100 professional clubs and win the FIFA World Cup by 2092.
In this documentary, HITC Sevens takes a look at the unstoppable rise of Japanese football over the past 30 years, the growth of the J.League, and how Japan aims to become a football superpower before the century is done.
One thing I can respect about Japan is even they beat Germany, they thanked the Germans for giving Japanese players a chance to compete in their league. Japan credit football powerhouse teams for their success is one thing I will give my respect.
In their last six games against European opposition, Japan has won five (Serbia, Spain, Turkey and Germany twice) and had a draw with Croatia (lost on PKs).
The last European team to beat them in regulation time was Belgium, in that 3-2 heartbreaker in 2018.
People who still view Japan as an "underdog" are kidding themselves.
If anything, Japan just needs a decent defense. They learn to play defense and I can genuinely see them getting to the semi finals in 2026.
@@moonknight2865 imagine somebody like kim min jae in the japanese team, they will become genuine world cup contenders.
@@moonknight2865 You are talking about Japan NT in 2010s. They now have Endo, Tomiyasu, Itakura, Sugawara Ito and so on. Someone actually watches their games would laugh at you if you say "they need to learn how to defend!"
@@jin12345678彼がいたらドイツに4点献上して負けてました😂
I don’t think there’s much doubt that Japan is the best in Asia at this point. They’ve been very close to reaching a quarter-final in 3 of the last 4 tournaments. It has to happen for them soon, surely. I hope they can do it in 2026.
Japan basically developed football from structural grassroots. They built a massive network from schools to college and pro clubs. They also encouraged local sponsors to sponsor the teams while requiring clubs to be self-sufficient.
This is basically contrast from the vast wealth of Saudi Arabia. But it proved that Japan has a far better vision than Saudi Arabia.
basically it is the similar function to english sports so J-League might become the most popular league in the world, because their is a good foundation like the English and they have more room to grow but hopefully with this can be one of the saving graces of losing population to suicide
Saudi may have the oil right now
But their way of thinking is far from sustainable in the future
yeah but it's different goals than Saudi. Saudi specifically signs big names for sportswashing purposes, not really to develop a good national team. But I agree long term Japan will still have a better league than Saudi no matter who Saudis splash the cash on
What I admire most about the early vision for japanese football is the "Win the World Cup within the next 100 years".
It's rare to see such long-term and relatively modest goals in any national endeavour.
Most of the west is so driven by short-term gains/goals. We buy our way to these goals in a way that's clearly unsustainable.
A 100-year goal, and an intelligent approach to reaching that goal, is just refreshing to see.
Japan>$audi
Crazy!! A few years ago, I thought Japan might never have someone like Kagawa and Honda again until the next 20 years, and all of a sudden they have stars in every position!
It’s sad that Nakata, Nakamura, Honda and Kagawa never got to play with a team this well-rounded in their prime, but I’m sure they must be so proud of how far their nation has come.
The story of Zico is incredibly wholesome. We need more stories like that in football.
As Japanese, let me say , thank you to great german coach Dettmar Cramer. In Japan ,he is called father of Japanese soccer .
When the J-League was launched in the 1990s, stars from all over the world played in Japan. The J-League took root in Japan, where football was not popular at all, thanks to the excellent play of famous foreign players.
Zico, Dunga, Careca, Leonardo Araújo, César Sampaio, Jorginho, Zinho, Bebeto,
Patrick Mboma,
Gary Lineker,
Dragan Stojković,
Guido Buchwald, Pierre Littbarski,
Hristo Stoichkov,
Salvatore Schillaci, Daniele Massaro, Ramón Díaz, David Bisconti,
Gerald Vanenburg,
Michael Laudrup,
Julio Salinas,
Hulk, Paulo Futre,
Sergei Aleinikov,
Paulo Wanchope,
Raúl Amarilla,
Park Ji-sung
and more. Thanks
As for coaches, Hans Ooft, Philippe Troussier, Ivica Osim, Alberto Zaccheroni, and Arsène Wenger are still loved by the Japanese IMO.
I am from Colombia but always support Japan. Always will remember us playing Japan 2014 World Cup . Very respectful but also hardworking people with detection which has obviously paid off with there national team and players like Mitoma.
ARIGATO❤🎉
Colombia played well too. But unfortunately in that match, Japan rose to the challenge and played better. As a Canadian, I hope that Colombia will qualify for WC2026!
I’m not surprised as an American who’s is also a baseball fan. They took to baseball like ducks to water in the 30’s. They have a wonderful and vibrant sports culture over there!
ニューヨーク・メッツ！僕の好きなチームです！千賀とホセが大好き！
A big part of me becoming a football fan was because of the Inazuma Eleven anime and DS games. Thank you Japan.
I am from Argentina, I visited Kyoto and Osaka back in 2011. I was immediately amazed at the amount of public, state-made football fields I saw while on the train from Osaka to Kyoto.
Thinking of the "potrero" that made my country so big in football, I immediately tought to myself: "if kids from the neighborhood actually play here as kids, Japan will be a tough rival in a matter of years".
I was not entirely wrong. Japan did good.
ARIGATO❤🎉
@MiguelGarcia-yo5we the comparison passes the eye test =b
Gracias from Japan
Regarding the popularity of football vs. baseball, there's a factor to consider: from the beginning the football league wanted to differentiate themselves by also focusing on the cities outside the big metro areas, unlike the baseball league which the teams from Tokyo and Osaka outnumber the rest. This means that, for a lot of people, there's a local football club but not a baseball one.
European Clubs have realized that Japanese players aren’t only marketing machines but also fantastic footballers. Just look what Celtic is doing 🍀
Honestly, the J-league is a significantly higher standard of football than the SPL
@@jazzoj5 So why is it ranked 3 places below the SPL in the Global Football Rankings list brought up in this very video then?
It may be more competitive than the SPL because there's no Super Team {Kashima Antlers only having won one title in the 2010s and 2020s so far} but the standard of football is definitely not higher YET.
-
The SPL's problem is that there's too few teams in the SPL and the also-rans have to play 3 or even 4 games a season against both Celtic and Rangers - This means that a great performance/fluke win against either of these two teams is much much less significant than if they only played 2 games a season against each.
But the Scottish can't understand that 3 divisions of 16 teams each {which would actually increase the participation from 42 to 48 teams total} is far better than 4 divisions of 12 teams, 10, 10 and 10 teams.
I've been following the Scottish Lowland and Highland Leagues {the 5th tier in Scotland} in recent seasons and the Lowland League especially is to my mind significantly stronger than the Scottish League Two {the 4th tier} right now whilst the Highland League isn't far behind.
There's easily 10 teams in the Highland and Lowland Leagues who would not embarass the Scottish Football League if increased from 42 to 48 teams.
And that's not even counting the Celtic, Rangers and Hearts B-Teams that play or have played in recent seasons in the Lowland League.
@franohmsford7548 I'm not bothered about the global football ranking list, as I can think for myself without having to consult some arbitrary list to form an opinion. I'm basing it on what I see having watched both leagues for years, J-league has a general higher standard of football imo and the increased physicality of the SPL doesn't bridge the gap in technique.
I lived in Japan for 4 months this year and the fan culture is seriously growing, particularly in Kyoto where across the city and main train station there is Kyoto Sanga flags everywhere
Kyoto Sanga FC , isnt taht Park Ji Sungs former club
@@halyupyes and partially owned by Nintendo.
We’ll it’s not owned by nintendo,but head sponser
try watch some urawa games and see their urawa boys ultras are so incredible
The present Japan football team is the golden generation of the country.Their incredible performance against top football team is unbelievable.
I grew up in the Japanese football academy system and I can say that Japanese players have always had the talent. I think It's just that the network has developed over time and they've attracted attention from around the world
I went to a Vissel Kobe match this year. It was hugely enjoyable with a great stadium, great fans and a family atmosphere. Even the stadium food was top class. It makes it easy for the league to be successful. Both teams waved to all the stands after the match. Very little diving or theatrics on the field, just good, skilled, fast and exciting action. Japan deserve success in their approach.
Please tell me you managed to see Iniesta playing
Been supporting Japan on the international stage since 2010 World Cup. Keisuke Honda & Shinji Kagawa🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵
I’ll always remember Honda. He got me to really love Japan.
Same here! It was keisuke honda that really got me into supporting japan
Keisuke Honda ended up on a coaching position for a bit for the Cambodian National Team 🇰🇭 FFC Football Federation Cambodia
I think another unique factor that made Japan so successful is because of football being not a popular sport for a long time. So when Japan developed, they developed their own way rather than being influenced by other factors outside.
The first Japanese superstar, Hidetoshi Nakata, is a rebel. He inspired other Japanese players to move on with a similar rebellious footballing style.
Hidetoshi Nakata is a rebel in his own mind. And nowhere else.
Otherwise I agree with your comment 100%. Japan has pursued a very "Japanese" path as it develops its football culture. I doubt there is any league in the world that attracts as large a fanbase from (1)families with children (2) young women and (3) both men and women over 75. In Japan, football is for everyone. Even behind goal, there are only a handful of teams where I would feel reluctant to take my young children. The style of play is also very home-grown, and as Japanese coaches become more confident to develop their own strategies rather than copy Europeans, the National Team becomes even more competitive
But Hide Nakata is nothing but a marketing genius who managed to get lots of press, but has no real devotion to anything except his own financial benefit. He did have a rare gift in his ability to read the run of play,. But he never used it to benefit anyone but himself, and always liked to snark about how he didnt really like football.
Take it from a resident of Yamanashi, who knows people who went to high school with Nakata - He is NOT the sort of player, or PERSON, to adopt as a role model.
I remember Hidetoshi from that great Roma team that won the scudetto in the early 2000s. A fine player with a great shot, he played alongside my countryman Gabriel Batistuta.
The first Japanese superstar is Miura Kazu.
He is 56 years old now, but still active.
Moreover, he moved to an overseas club last year.
My fav player hide .. what he lacked in pace and size , he made it up with impeccable vision and he is one of those players that knew what he can and cannot do .. focuses on his strengths but at the same time embracing his weakness . This generation of Japanese players however are far more technical and physically better than nakata.. which is why they are making the world sit up and notice …
@@k-matsu what you say about football in japan seems to be true also for rock shred guitar! Old people tapping their feet to face melting whammy bar solos..so cool :)
As a resident of Japan with children, there is one significant point you missed. The free tickets to games for school children was an annual invitation from Osaka Cerezo, I assume all teams has that community outreach. The outreach was presented as a lottery, which we applied for and gained tickets every time. I suspect that everyone won the lottery.
Among my students in university football is #2 with baseball as #1, but the difference is closing in recent years. And rugby has been rising for the same reasons you raised.
I may be wrong, but I always thought cricket suited the Japanese culture more than baseball does, as it's more humble, less combative (outside of normal play). Although I'm not a cricket fan, I'd love to see if cricket takes hold in Japan in a similar way that baseball has. Although of course baseball has too much history in Japan to ever really see cricket overtake it in popularity.
@@alternatehistorysportsBaseball is popular as it was introduced by the USA who's sphere of influence Japan became part of during the 20th century. Cricket is mainly popular in countries that were in the British empire or sphere of influence and its not surprising its struggled to take off elsewhere as it can be very tedious to watch if you're a spectator with little prior knowledge if the sport.
@@indiekiddrugpatrol3117 Yeah but baseball is also tedious to watch if you're not brought up with it. But maybe in some alternate universe Japan is a cricket powerhouse and India is obsessed with baseball.
@alternatehistorysports any sport is tedious to watch if your not brought up with it except MMA. That's why it's the ultimate sport. It's more global than soccer. Look at the countries weight classes are represented in the UFC. Not to mention UFC is way more entertaining. Even CR7 said MMA is more entertaining than soccer.
@@wilkesmcdermid7906I don't like MMA that much. I think if there's any objectively interesting sport it's probably something really fast and skillful like Ice Hockey, F1 racing, and at the other end of that scale is cricket, golf and baseball. But everyone has their own tastes. I don't find F1 that interesting, even though in theory it's the pinnacle of motorsports and I love Rally.
THIS JAPAN NATIONAL TEAM WILL BE THE CATALYST FOR CHANGE IN THE WAY WE SEE ASIAN FOOTBALL!!! I feel like us westerners do not truly understand/realise how much talent is walking around on the pitches in East-Asia.
Having played Football both in Europe and Japan, lemme tell you that, generally, on a local level, the technique of Japanese players is FAR SUPERIOR to the level we see in Europe. When I first joined my local club in Japan I thought I could easily adapt given the high level I played in Europe. But I swear to god my mind was bLOWn......Everyone was two footed, could do endless juggling, and curve free kicks like they were prime Payet at West Ham...........It was only with my physique that I could keep myself afoot in matches. Currently, I think Japanese and other East-Asian players have a mentality, that many people in Europe/South America sometimes seem to be lacking nowadays. the HUNGER to manifest yourself among the world's best is what's gonna take them all the way
For me, as Japanese players start to increasingly become confidence about their abilities on the world stage, its only a matter of time before there will be many Asian players among the world's best
Agreed!!!!! Another example would be Japan's national volleyball team. There are currently ranked 3rd in the world, having come from out of almost nowhere a few years ago. They progress they made in a few years is insane and it all has to do with the tight bond of all the team members. I think we will see something similar happen for their football team
@frankiesroompimp5164 Basketball is not a huge sport in Japan but they are better than the Europeans minus Serbia. Only US and a few others are better.
Their women's team is quite impressive too, would be cool to see the younger generations of both the men and women's teams do great.
They have even won the World Cup
I noticed. They almost play the same way as well, it's their thing.
The Japanese women were very impressive at the latest World Cup. Thrashed Spain 4-0.
I believe they won the Women's World Cup in 2011
In don’t think the women’s team has any influence on the men’s team or popularity in Japan. No Japanese or American man looks at Europe or Brazil and says, we are already equal to you because our women’s teams have won several world cups.
It's very interesting because this is basically exactly what is happening in Japanese rugby 🏉 now. It's transitioning from the corporate owned team model to a fully professional league these past two years. It's called the Japanese Top League. And it's already attracted many of the best rugby players in the world to play on their teams. And Japan has started to get quite solid at Rugby 🏉 now. They have already beaten several tier one rugby nations (South Africa, Ireland, Scotland) at the Rugby World Cup 🏆.
Japan are also world champions in baseball too
@@StaySqueezy12 True. But it does have to be pointed out that very few countries (as in literally just a handful) actually play baseball at a professional level. And it's not watched or played much globally. Not when compared to football ⚽, Cricket 🏏, Basketball 🏀, Rugby 🏉, and Volleyball 🏐. Baseball is not even in the top ten of team sports. So it's a far bigger challenge to become one of the best teams in football ⚽, Cricket 🏏, Basketball 🏀, or Rugby 🏉 because you will simply be competing against a lot more countries and top tier national teams than you would in baseball.
@allanlmb37 cricket is less global than baseball. WBC has more nations than the cricket world cup. It's only played more because two nations with huge populations, Pakistan and India. Nations that have won zero olympic medals. Take out the Currys out of the equation cricket drops way below most sports. Cricket and baseball are not global but international, same goes for rugby.
@allanlmb37 Japan is quite good at basketball for a country where its not that big. Minus the Serbs, Lithuanians and the Greeks Japan is better than Europe. 10 years ago American football was bigger than basketball in Japan. Now they are best in Asia in basketball better than Australia, New Zealand, China, Philippines. Also, China and Philippines basketball is the most popular team sport.
@allanlmb37 only global team sports are soccer and basketball and arguably volleyball. Rugby, baseball, cricket are international. Despite cricket being more played its less diverse than baseball and rugby.
I'm Portuguese and captain Tsubasa were my favorite cartoons growing up. I remember running from school to my grandma's house to arrive in time to watch the daily episode and trying to do their football tricks with my mates. Good times 😌
I'm in UK. but originally from Japan. Thanks for this video! glad to see there is an English football youtuber who noticed Japan national team's recent success!
yes our current national team is the best team we ever had. it's very exiting and i'm looking forward to next Asian cup.
There are still a lot of issues for our national team but overall it's going to a right direction. The nation hasn't recovered from the excitement of beating Germany for the 2nd time!
also many thanks for mentioning our national baseball team. the history of our football can't be told without our baseball as there is a fierce competition between them. but hey, we have the best national baseball team in the world, better than US!
Just want to drop in and give some love to Nakata, Nakamura, Honda and Kagawa for walking so the modern Japanese team could run. As an American who always roots for Japan in the World Cup, I’m so proud of them for coming this far.
Also, it’s really cool how manga inspired some of the world’s greatest players.
still remember their amazing game against Belgium in 2018
As a Paraguayan, I remember watching my country played Japan in South Africa 2010. At the time, we were expected to steamroll Japan. Eventually, we won, but only after penalties. It was such a tough game, we never expected so much resistance and discipline among Japanese players and Tata Martino didn't know how to break that kind of Japanese defence either, they simply assisted and organised so orderly that we couldn't break it. Fast forward to 2023 now, we have a national team in crisis, a group of players that can't score, clubs that even managed to lose to Bolivian teams, whereas Japan has developed so rapid now and can even challenge the likes of Germany, Spain and France. Oh what a time.
As a Japan fan I was gutted when Paraguay won that day but that Paraguay team was really really good. Shame what has happened since.
atleast paraguay still has quality players in almiron and my favorite club brighton’s julio enciso, absolute ballers
@@duxedeuver There is a problem. You have to look at the recent qualification of Paraguay for World Cup 2026. The first game against Peru, they dominated and even had numerical advantage when a red card for Peru, yet they were held goalless. Against Venezuela, an opponent previously beaten so easily by Paraguay away, they ended up this time around lost 0-1. I think this explains much of the current crisis of the Paraguayan team.
I'm sad about Paraguay, I'm Colombian, and grew up never trusting my country and expecting to lose against everyone, Paraguay always terrified me, now, you have good players but I can't help but think of Paraguay alongside Venezuela and Bolivia as the weakest teams. I really hope you guys can get to the next world cup and start rebuilding that team, you definitely have the potential.
I don't know why you were expecting to steamroll Japan, that 2010 team especially was quite good.
The very first professional football match I saw as a teenager was in Hawaii in 1977. It was the Japanese national team against the old NY Cosmos of the old NASL (with Pele and Franz Beckenbauer). The Cosmos thrashed the Japanese 6-0 and Pele had a hat trick.
A friend of mine from high school now lives and teaches in Japan and has told me in the past that football is now challenging baseball as their national past time. We visited Japan last winter. Football season would not start in Japan for another couple of months at the time but there was a buzz around the local clubs in the towns we visited. In Nagano there were posters for Boaluz Nagano downtown and I can't even find the club on Wikipedia. In Osaka near the Osaka Expo there are posters and memorabilia posted in the train stations and local restaurants for Gamba Osaka.
Great video. It seems to jive with what I saw when I was there for the month. Japan is a fun country to visit and next time we go, I'd like to go during their football season to catch a match or two.
Boaluz Nagano is a Futsal club pal. They are in division 2.
No big deal, but back in 1977, the national team of Japan was an all amateur squad. But in any case, I too, have fond memories of the NASL. Pele, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Gerd Muller, George Best, Bobby Moore, Eusebio, etc. I could go on. I lived in LA, so I was so excited to see Johan Cruyff live. I also rooted for Fort Lauderdale because of George Best. It sucks that the league didn't succeed after all.
i don't think it's a hot take nowadays, but i think Japan now has the highest chance of being the first country to win the world cup outside of europe and south america.
I hope that one day Japan reaches the quarter-finals of the World Cup. I love the way they play and their spirit. They have the quality to go beyond the Round of 16, but lack a bit of edge and finishing
I hope so too. Also a reminder that Japan's football team are more competitive among the elite teams, but still aren't on their level.
I mean it's not like reaching the QF is this massive over achievement for Japan. Japan were penalty kicks away from the QF in 2010 and 2022 World Cups, and if they hadn't;t choked a 2-0 lead vs Belgium, could have made the QF in 2018 as well
@@AW-zk5qb It would not be an overachievement, but it would be an achievement to finally reach that stage for them
@@AW-zk5qbJapan pretty much pulled the Atlanta falcons there
@@AW-zk5qbdidn’t choke. Was bound to happen
I developed a soft spot for Japan during World Cup 2002, which they and South Korea so brilliantly co-hosted. This was helped by goalkeeper Yoshi Kawaguchi playing for my club, Portsmouth at the time. I'm really happy to see the team's progress over the years and even have a couple of replica Japan shirts.
A lot of people still say that World Cup was somewhat rigged, but still, it brought Japan to the World stage, and I don't think Japan would be as good of a team as they are now if it were not for that
@@rz1_1221definitely wasn't rigged in Japan's favour but with South Korea it was very suspicious
ARIGATO🎉🏴🇯🇵
it was a splendid world cup indeed, very memorable
the GK kit with the flames is just next level
Still got my 2002 Japan kit with Nakata on.
They’re balling now.
Brilliant players coming through!
Irrespective of what a Japanese person does, he does with utmost sincerity and dedication. That makes Japan collectively a nation that far exceeds in any field. ❤
yeah they do exceed in committing war crimes fr
@@y79iu28that was 80 years ago dude, you need to wake up, stop being so bitter, and join us in the present 😊✌🏻
@Chris Heartimagine copy pasting the same comment on every video to do with Japan to try and upset ppl 😂
@@kimmieutsunomiya1457 maybe if your government actually acknowledges it then people can move on dont ya think instead of denying it
@@y79iu28 really? You need a governments words to help you grow up? What did "sorry day" do for the indigenous people of Australia?
As a half Japanese, I am so happy we are doing very well. Tbh I don't really like Moriyasu's brand of football but he gets the job done so I'm ok with it. Through a strong foundation in the schooling system, and academies in countries like Germany, we developed a great team. My uncle was once an analyst for Bremen in the 2000s and he once said, if we do what the Germans do, we will beat them eventually. Mad to think his vision became true.
I remember 15 years ago that the Japanese team had good technical skills but couldn’t finish. That’s not true these days. It is ironic that many players went to play in Germany and have beaten them twice.
Well it worked for Japan's car and motorcycle industries, so hey.
Do you like Celtic?
@@Cancun771The Japanese are experts at it for sure 👍🏽
@@michaelsalovaara567 I still think we still lack clinical finishers and all-out number 9s, but that's down partly to Japanese culture. We have a saying, a nail that sticks out, gets hammered down, so that hinders us a bit but also because of that aspect, we have many great midfielders and passers haha
サムライブルーを取り上げて頂きありがとうございます。あらゆる角度から考察されていて、ワクワクしながら見ることができました。 また皆さんのコメントも素晴らしく、日本人として誇らしく感じました。
日本人だ！！
They always try to play slick, rapid football with combinations of passes and tricky players. It's a joy to watch and every World Cup the Japanese appear to raise the bar.
The main blocks are the lack of a clinical finisher - like many nations - and inability to hold their nerve in tight knockout games. Belgium in 2018 and Croatia in 2022 are teams they should have beaten.
Really want to see them clear those blocks and enjoy a deep run in the next few World Cups.
They could also do with a better centre backs and a goalkeeper too
Captain Tsubasa was a cultural phenomenon, but Japan now has a new very popular football manga in Blue Lock. Although its vision of football is somewhat... controversial. It basically states that the most important part of success for any team is a world class striker, and all of the main characters are strikers, with little focus on any other position.
Aoashi in my opinion is far better than Blue Lock. It came out within the same year as the latter, but since Blue Lock was released near the World Cup, the latter exploded in popularity. I still hope for season 2 of Aoashi
I think the vision of strikers mellowed a bit as the series went on, giving a bit of manga spoilers here so apologies if you haven’t caught up but:
Basically it’s been revealed that the idea behind the Bluelock system wasn’t fully to create a world class striker, it was to create a team that is capable of scoring from every position on the pitch. Hence players like Isagi and nagi playing midfield and chigiri becoming a winger. Even Gagamaru becoming a goalkeeper lol
It’s still controversial for sure but I can kinda get behind it 😂
Isn't blue lock striker critic targeted only towards the japanese national team? To say the japanese national team failure in the 2018 world cup is a lack of world class striker is kinda fair tbh.
ao ashi and giant killing are much better to show club competition and youth development. but blue lock is cool too
Ao Ashi and Giant Killing has clear depiction of the progress of the Japanese football pyramid through recent years
Some of the best football fans in the world the amount of respect the fans show to others is unmatched plus they have some of the coolest kits out there.
And they clean up the stadium after the game too. 👍🏽
And awesome nickname
Its really easy to root for Japan when their fans are consistently so respectful of the venues they visit. I wish them nothing but success. Behind only my Mexico and US, they are the team I root for!
100%, there fans are amazing compared to the Europeans and South Americans.
ARIGATO❤🎉
過去、そして現在の日本の状況と結び付けられていて、完璧な動画だと思いました。
Another aspect of the 100 year plan is to provide areas with a team to support. So with their baseball league all the teams are corporate owned and traditionally have been centred in the same urban clusters, despite the popularity there are a mere 12 teams in the league and only within the last 30 years or so have there been relocations to smaller areas, like there was no pro team north of the Tokyo region until the 21st century. With the J league now most of the country has a home team to support and often these teams in more underappreciated areas see incredible levels of support.
Started following them in 2008. In 2010 they played exiting football, with Endo, Honda, both Nakamuras, Okazaki, Nagatomo and Kagawa.
Kashima Antlers second place in the 2016 Clubs World Cup is quite relevant to this, you should have mentioned it. They were as close to winning as the best South American teams in the last decade, having lost in extra time after being 1-2 up and all their starters against Real Madrid were Japanese!
We’ve got a few Japanese players at Celtic and they are absolutely sublime. Especially Kyogo, he’s as deadly a striker you’ll find anywhere in the world. We also got Reo Hatate, a midfielder who will undoubtedly move for a fortune when richer clubs in a top league come calling. The J League will be teeming with more Mitomas, Kyogos, Endos etc, I suspect their league is now awash with European scouts
The thing is partly that is also due to Ange Postecoglou coming from Japan and signing Japanese players for Celtic because he trusts them.
@@lordjustinian2913no doubt we got those boys because of Ange’s knowledge of the Japanese game, but we’ve also had a couple of Japaense players previously, most notably Shunsuke Nakamura, one of the greatest ever free kick takers
I remember when you had Nakamura. The Japanese Riquelme.
@user-wb5oj5gr7l Did you say the same about Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson etc etc etc. Players tend to move upwardly more than sideways. Downward as they age. Judging by your criteria nobody would be good enough to move to a higher level.
@@JohnBoyBeattie I like playing Celtic on playstation when your team have Shunsuke Nakamura. Great player, his left foot was a beast.
As someone from the little island of Singapore (who, honestly, are hopeless at football), I am very proud of the marked progress of Japan's national football team as seen in the last two World Cups! I remember watching them defeat Germany last year in Qatar and it was incredibly thrilling! I hope to see not only Japan but other Asian nations progress further in their national football and be more competitive among the historically elite football nations of Europe and South America (and even Africa to a lesser extent)
In order for a nation to succeed at football they need infrastructure (which is often dependent on money), a large population and a football culture. The sad truth is that not many countries in the AFC fit that criteria. Japan, Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and after that you really don't have anybody. Maybe Iran, Thailand and Malaysia but their infrastructure is lacking.
Singapore has quite a lot of young players right now (The Fandis comes to mind among others), hopefully they can develop into good players to challenge in Asia. Much love from your neighbor, Indonesia bro.
@@benrasjidbro their U23s drawn against Guam
@@AVietnameseWanderingAround i mean they could still turn out to be pretty good in the future
Looking forward to seeing how albirex niigata will fare next season when they convert into a "local" team
Been watching your channel for years now and this video is right up there with the best. Being a 90s kid growing up with so much Japanese culture in movies, video games, cartoons as well as football... Japan were always my second team in the World Cup 😂 great to see them doing so well. Kaisuke Honda was an absolute beast as well... always hoped Newcastle would sign him back in the day. Japan has always been my ultimate bucketlist destination, so maybe I'll get over there to see a football game at some point!
You should see Urawa Reds game at their Home stadium if you are visiting Japan. and also Kyoto Sanga along with your sightseeing!
High school soccer is not mentioned in this video. The high school soccer championship is old; the first championship was held in 1917. Many of the current national team players have come from the country and have developed excellent talents.
In Japan, the process of becoming a professional soccer player is diverse and does not limit when a player's talent can flourish, as there are paths for players to become active in junior high and high school soccer clubs and then be scouted again by youth and club teams.
In addition, in high school soccer, a player cannot show his abilities to many people unless his team wins. Hence, competition among players and dedication to the team become essential. It seems to me that the way to maximize the team's potential is to create such an environment.
They've looked good in their build up play for over 10 years, interchanging positional play and link up play. But they used to never take a shot at the goal, ever. Now they do. Many commentators said back then that they're one good striker away from making it. The funny thing is, they overcame it by scoring with their midfielders, although they took 10 years to figure that out.
The J-League is so fun to watch, and I remember there was an Asian football roundup type show on Fox Soccer and Fox Sports World a looong time ago that had highlights every week. Gamba Osaka was beating the hell out of everyone and making a statement in Asian competitions. Their rivalry with Urawa Red Diamonds was a huge spectacle and I was hooked on the drama.
I'm actually watching Japanese football matches on a weekly basis now ever since the J-League started showing free live matches on their official international UA-cam channel. On average, there's like 4k-7k viewers watching the livestream so I'd say there's an interest for Japanese football.
One of the biggest mysteries of J league that only HONDA doesn’t have their professionalized club unlike TOYOTA,NISSAN,MITSUBISHI,YAMAHA,and MAZDA.
The Japanese national anthem is very very beautiful my name is Mustafa from Iraq 🇮🇶 I love the respectable ❤ Japanese people
And I encourage the champion Japanese Samurai team, the King of the 👑 Asian continent 🇯🇵🤝🇮🇶♥️❤️👑
You actually bring up a really good point on why germany seems to have so many problems with japan. With a lot of the players playing in the bundesliga they naturally are really comfortable playing against germans/germany, while germany probably underestimates japan. This plus germany not being in form results in those loses.
not just football, Japan is catching up with the world in a lot of sports.
I follow Baseball, Horse Racing, and Bantam Boxing.
I also heard they also get good at curling, Ice Skating, and rugby.
And that Saudi Arabia is how you develop your league the right way. Been waiting so long for Alfie to do this video. This is what happens when you use your resources to conduct effective research on how the biggest leagues work and developing academies, infrastructure etc. Great video 👏
JAPAN won asian cup 4 times ( the highest ) Saudi won it 3 times ( 2nd highest) , for club football al Hilal has won the most asian champions league trophies ( 4 times) get your facts straight , alfie just doesn't like rich Arabs
@@yazmo5564aye because trophies tell the entire story don't they. Saudi have painted over all of the cracks in their football pyramid by spending extortionate amounts on ageing players whilst Japan have invested into grassroots and seen greater reward.
@@yazmo5564 When Saudi Arabia first won Asian Cup, Japan was still weak at the time. Today it is not the same like 1980s.
Even today, the stark contrast in World Cup performance is seen. While Saudi Arabia was the first to advance past the group stage of a World Cup, this remains Saudi Arabia's sole triumph. Whereas Japan has advanced four times. Mexico butchered Saudi Arabia in the last game to deny Saudi Arabia whereas Japan overcame Spain in style. Clown.
Great insite and analysis
as a Croatia fan i was little disappointed we didn't finish them off before penalties, but they are proving to be very tough team.
Leading up to the Qatar World Cup, Japan was consistently defeating teams like the USA in friendly matches. Many speculated that the opposing teams might have been in poor condition. However, recently, there’s a growing belief among the Japanese themselves that it’s not that the opponents are weak, but rather that Japan has become a stronger soccer nation.
The USA is a weak team. A Japanese high school team could easily beat them.
Great video. Japan has all the ingredients it needs to become a great footballing country. Looking forward to it!
Keep in mind that the contribution of STVV to Japan has been also remarkable.
Tomiyasu, Endo, Kamada, all stepped out from there for their next career in Europe.
And that team is owned by a Japanese porn website lol
seen a tweet the other day saying out of any team outside south america or europe that japan has the best chance of winning a world cup. as an american it’s kinda sad to see the development of japan vs usa. having a clear plan and not trying to skip steps has paid off for japan so much. great video!!
One of Japan's popular anime is Captain Tsubasa. It's been made twice...in 1983, and 2017. In 1983, in the first episode, Tsubasa is looking longingly at a football magazine and wondering when Japan would qualify for the world cup. That scene vanished in the 2017 remake..lol.
Captain Tsubasa had anime adaptations in 1994 and 2001 as well.
You may not know this, but until just before the Qatar World Cup, most of the Japanese public did not have high expectations for the national team. In a Yahoo Japan survey, more than 70% expected the team to fail to qualify. This was because the public had believed the intense negative campaign that had been waged against Coach Moriyasu for years by former players, commentators, and even UA-camrs who had never played for the national team, and whose track record was even less than that of the current players. The "miracle victories" against Germany and Spain dramatically changed public opinion and weakened the criticism toward Moriyasu, and the recent overwhelming victory in the friendly match against Germany raised expectations for the national team even higher. No one in Japan could have foreseen the current state of Japan before the World Cup. The Japanese are the most perplexed by the current state of the national team.
I hope Japan becomes the first country outside Europe and South America to win the World Cup .
The are classy and hardworking people.
I think the J-League system, along with the whole japanese sport philosophy, is actually one of the best in the world to be so underrated, and for a long time now. Arsene Wenger before, and Ange Postecoglou after, both "graduated" from J-League to do great things overseas, and I think the next will be Andres Iniesta, as I suspect for years now that his move to Vissel Kobe was from the start someway linked with the chance that he will take the team's managerial role for him to experiment with japanese football before having an influential role back at Barça in the same way Xavi did in Qatar, and also to have a role as an observer (as Samper or Bojan Krkic joining the team also, with them potentially forming the future Iniesta's staff, and also maybe Barça is investing in japanese football too as some transfers could prove), and it might be similar to what's happening in Inter Miami in MLS too. How Japan is silently dominating in a handful of sports is honestly impressive. The dedication to long term development is truly admirable, and uncommon for today's standards. Japanese football can only become better for now on.
@Chris Heart wtf are you talking about
@@ChrisHeart-kr1uqBro seek help!
Alfie if you take any interest in rugby (union), look out for the Japan team, they hosted the 2019 World Cup and surpassed all expectations, got amazing crowds and support, and it's early yet but they seem to have taken that momentum into the current 2023 rugby World cup.
soccer, baseball, basketball. japanese sport is really on the rise and having great showings on the world stage.
Their rugby and volleyball are even better than football and basketball.
The Bundesliga is full of players from Japan. A bit like how the Belgium national team benefitted more from the English Premier League than the England men's team.
I don't say that because I think numbers of foreign players should be restricted: quite the opposite, but rather we need to ask why did Belgium and Japan get so good despite not having a strong local league.
My mate toured Japan in an elite Australian rep soccer team in the late 90s. He said he was astonished by the speed of the Japanese players.
Looking back now, one of the quaintest details about Captain Tsubasa is that, at the beginning of the series, people treat the main character like a weirdo for choosing to play football. Which probably wasn’t that far off from reality back in the early 80s in Japan, though it’s safe to say that that is no longer the case now.
Japan has always been a very competitive football nation
Japan just hits different lmao what an amazing turn of events. Go Japan.
Japan actually have a plan in place to win the World Cup by 2092. Crazy to think that back then they couldnt even qualify for the World Cup and now they breeze through the group stages
I've followed Japan since 1999 now and it's not remotely surprising what has happened. Despite constantly improving performance in the international game, they kept getting ignored but it simply cannot anymore.
Clubs are now buying players and using then correctly, Mitoma a prime example.
The talent pool out there is massive. The only issue has ever been mentality. But the Japanese are equals now and we are seeing players believe in themselves.
Great video btw. Fantastic research.
I watched my country play against Japan a few days ago. The Japanese were in total control, despite we got more shots, and they didn't lose sight. We are so bad nowadays. Suck. Japan deserved respect with the way how they are developing football, hopefully my country will begin to give space for youngsters.
Kagawa is another player who should never have left Dortmund.
God that boy was smooth.
And best buds with Großkreutz of all people, which never ceases to amaze me. But that is the Dortmund spirit.
Speaking about Captain Tsubasa now i think the main characters are strangely familiar...
- One play as a very creative false-9 and one a direct, powerful, and quick goalscorer
- One was born in a middle-class family and one born in a poverty
- One play for Barca (came from a youth team and signed abroad) and one for Juve
- Both are rivals and sharpen each other. The other one take the rivalry more seriously
- One is fair skinned and one is tanned
And this was made in early 2000s. The mangaka probably could predict the future.
More of his creation rather than prediction. Kids here started playing because of that comic, and a lot of people working hard to make that into reality. Very proud of players and everyone involved🎉
@@shunsukeokano839 Yeah, it was only a joke. Tsubasa was based on Ronaldinho i think. Glad that the manga could inspire others.
As a Mexican American and usa fan. I was also rooting for japan and sourh korea to make it far in the world cup. Im actually glad that there is more competition coming up other than European and south American teams being the only dominant teams. Hope J league and MLS start leaving a footprint in the world of soccer/football
Great attitude, work ethic, and a fantastic manager.
It's relatively unrelated to the video, but thank you so much to the lovely Japanese folks for finally getting Hansi Flick ("was ist das?? ") fired. Kudos to you and the great progress you've made.
It is in Japan's culture to have good team work and hard work. This is massively represented in their Football team. Low centre of gravity players, nippy, quick, technically good means they are very exciting to watch too.
They've been steadily improving for the past couple of decades and continue to
with Kubo and Mitoma in the wing. Japan football future is in good hands
It’s interesting to think that Japan in the last 2 world cups lost in the round of 16 both times to the team that got 3rd and only Lost to that world cup’s championship
The Zico story is unbelievably wholesome
They gained so much goodwill with their general attitude and cleaning the lockerroom etc. I rooted for them all the way😊
This is an amazing breakdown, Ollie. Huge kudos always, but this one's a gem.
Kyogo, Daizen and Hatate 😍😍💚💚🍀🍀
I'm actually more amazed at the fact that it took them 12 years to do anything, back in 2010 with Keisuke Honda I expected them to be(come) challengers.
I honestly wish my fellow Ghanaians were watching this. We lack the central idea, and the level of professionalism in soccer, coupled with the quality of players, are in steady decline.
Ever since the japan korea world cup, they can see that Japan has a big chance to become a top side. Japanese are naturally patient. Now their football will thrive for many years
the rise of japanese football is very2 impressive, huge congratulations to Japan. I am really impressed and Even if they don't win the world cup within the next 100 yrs, its kinda understandable bc winning the wc is not only talent but requires huge amount of luck and it is beyond hard...and i will still consider them successful for their 100 yr plan as long as they become one of the great football nations like Brazil, Argentina, Italy,etc.
BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE
The pride of Asia💪
Excellent overview. I learned a lot about Japan.
Its called a football project, something that the Mexican league and national team knows very little of. Congratulations Japan, you deserve it 🇲🇽🤝🇯🇵
FYI, 11/26 university graduates were selected for the Japanese national team during the last international week.
Schmidt, Taniguchi, Morishita, Maikuma, Endo, Junya Ito, Furuhashi, Morita, Mitoma, Atsuki Ito, and Ueda.
i dont know how much effects on this success recent few years, but i think one of point of view.
btw thank you for featuring Japan! from japan.
Yeah that Japan national team are one of my favourite national teams ever in this world and they are slowly rising in their national football but they need to avoid from being favoured by some controversies,mainly,in the last year's FIFA World Cup where a few of the them which included the controversial goal against Spain which won them the match!!!I knew for the past few years,I did notice that they have been progressing well till being able to challenge some of the respective major superpowers and I do hope to see them go to the next stage in near future,good friends!!!LONG LIVE JAPAN AND JAPANESE FOOTBALL!!!🇯🇵
Well it isn’t their fault if refs favor them ☠️
it wasnt even a mistake or a ref favor, the ball was still in the line for about 1-2 mm to its outside curvature. A legit goal
@@nyavoradjei8919 Obviously good friend,but controversy was still a controversy!!!😁
@@BY-sh6gt Please watch the replay properly and you would see the whole ball crossed the line during the build up to their controversial winning goal and never an outside curvature,so no legit goal and also their controversial offside goal against Croatia in the next stage,good friend!!!😁
I was at the most recent friendly game between Germany and Japan in Wolfsburg. It didn't feel like a friendly game at all, Japana played beautiful, quick, attacking football and had a plan. Arguably they played better than when they beat Germany at the World Cup. With that being said, they really have to figure out a way to stop getting knocked out in the round of 16, it has already happened far too often.
I don't usually watch friendlies cause it's almost always boring. But that match has a really nice pace and competitiveness to it.
@@melzer1377 It felt like a World Cup game, the first half was some of the best football I've seen in recent years.
Great video, and great analysis in depth, as usual !
Japan is one of those countries with huge football potential, like China, the USA, Mexico or Turkiye. They have a large population, they are rich, and football is getting more and more popular.
I expect that with the national team doing better and better, football could overtake baseball as the n°1 sport in the coming decade.
And the fact that their best players leave Japan to play in Europe's top4 leagues is not a problem, as long as they keep developping a lot of young players.
Clearly, the fact that they have a federation with a long term plan, that there is little corruption in Japan, the big population, and the fact that they are a wealthy nation means that they can have good infrastructure, big crowds and have the quality players in there. I think that the Japan national team is already top 15 if not top 10 in the world, and I wouldn't be that surprised if they were the ones going to the semifinals in the next World Cup.
As for the J League, there is still progress to be made there, as the clubs aren't that popular yet, but the national team's exploits will probably make young japanese want to play football and create a virtue circle that will create bigger crowds, bigger involvement in football, and create a bigger pool of young players to pick from.
Japan can clearly become the powerhouse of asian football. Currently, they are one of the big players in Asia, but not clearly ahead of Iran and Korea for example. But they can take a real, undisputable lead in the years to come. Of course Saudi Arabia and Qatar spend big in football, but they will probably never have a great national team, whereas Japan can have both a great national league AND a great national team. And I really hope that they do.
They have to keep doing what they're doing, and I don't see a reason why they couldn't succeed.
In the USA, football has to compete with many other sports, at least 5 of which are more popular, although football is clearly growing there.
In Mexico, you said it all in your video. They have a gigantic pool of players with the potential for a world class national team, but the relative poverty of the country compared to most of the big nations, aswell as the corruption and the greed of local clubs keeps them from becoming a football powerhouse.
China has the biggest potential pool of players, and the will to become a football powerhouse, but it doesn't seem to be working as their national team is still nowhere near good enough for the world cup, and their championship has fallen back into irrelevancy.
We'll see how it goes, but Japan has very few problems : One that you mentioned is the goalkeeper problem. Although they're not the smallest people, the japanese have few very tall players that have the potential to become great goalkeepers.
But the japanese discipline could help them as they are willing, I think, to tell players where they should play without hesitation, to have balance in the youth teams.
They have a great sense of the collective in Japan, they know they are part of something bigger than themselves and in football, that is certainly a very good thing. Quite the opposite of the extremely individualistic USA.
Anyway, in the World Cup they are always one the teams I hope will do well, and with their current team, they can achieve big things. Hopefully they win the next Asian Cup.
Actually Japan is currently a top 7 nation in football comfortably.
@@lucasborges2246 Hard to say exactly but yes probably.
But we'll see how they do in the long run.
Suggestion for a video: the fall of the Swedish Men's team.
How can a national team, who finished 3rd in Euro 1992 and the 1950 and 1994 World Cup, and 2nd in the 1958 World Cup, have fallen to their current state? Barely making an impact or failing to qualify for tournaments? Especially when contrasted to the Swedish Women's team, who are world class, finishing in the top 3 in their last four tournaments?
eh I mean the 1950s were a completely different era, an era in which Hungary were dominant. You could also argue that 1992 and 1994 were flukes with decent teams. Remember that Romania made 1994 QF and only lost to Sweden in penalties, and Bulgaria made the semis of that tournament. I just wouldn't say Sweden on the men's side were ever a giant in the sport
Too busy eating meat balls and building IKEA stuff
I suspect it's because Sweden (as a country with a small population) can only produce so many World Class Players. And it's clearly going through a bad patch at the moment, what with Lindelof actually being captain.
Reason : because Zlatan retired
@@MrSmith1984 Sweden has bigger things to worry about. Sweden is a joke of a country. Just watch the Angry Foreigner. Forget football your country is going downhill and heading towards liberal fascism.