Journey to the West - the ladder to elevate Japanese football

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When the J-League was established in 1993, Japan attracted attention in football by recruiting world stars in the late afternoon like Gary Lineker or Zico. At the time, Japanese football executives built on the successful model of American sport and adopted what is common with international fan culture: tifo, flags, ultra groups, mascots and even friendly cheerleaders... to make going to the field an experience.

Nearly three decades since that day, football has become spiritual food for millions of Japanese. The J-League attracted an average of 20,000 spectators per game before Covid-19 and owns a 12-year television rights worth up to $2.1 billion with DAZN.

However, that is not quite the place to elevate Japanese football. Although the J-League emerged as the best league in Asia, the best domestic players did not play in the country but chose the Western route.

When Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with South Korea, only four players on the team - including stars Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal) and Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma) - were playing abroad. Twenty years later, there are 19 out of 26 Japanese players playing abroad. That number would have been even higher had Huddersfield's Yuta Nakayama not been injured and Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi had not been unexpectedly eliminated.

Japan Times writer Dan Orlowitz explained: "The J-League and fans are very proud when many Japanese players come to Europe to play. Now going to Europe is not as special as it was in the past, but rather When working in Japan in 2010, coach Alberto Zaccheroni gave the message: 'Must go to Europe'.

Their European destination is mainly Germany. Up to eight Japanese players are playing in Germany, including captain Maya Yoshida. Both players who scored against Germany in the shocking victory at the 2022 World Cup, Ritsu Doan (SC Freiburg) and Takuma Asano (Bochum) are wearing ... German clubs.

One of the international stars playing in Japan is former world champion Andres Iniesta. After a few years of playing for Vissel Kobe since leaving Barcelona, ​​he has a comprehensive view of the league and the capabilities of Japanese players as follows: "Japanese young players have a very good level of play. For me, they are talented, enthusiastic and physically fit players."

Besides the group of players playing football in Germany, other talents of the Japanese team also include Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton) or Takumi Minamino (Monaco). This collective of talented players is led by Hajime Moriyasu – the coach with the highest win rate in the history of the Japanese team.

As a person living in Tokyo, Orlowtiz commented: "There are people who think that Japan can win the championship with the right training method. And they are probably not wrong, if you look at the current force. Except for the defense. It's probably the biggest talent pool this country has ever had. It's a world-class squad in every position and very talented."

In the past, many Japanese players only went abroad at the end of their careers. There are those who even prioritize college over playing professional football, like the way Brighton's Mitoma once refused to advance to the Kawasaki Frontale first team to attend Tsukuba School. Orlowtiz analyzed: "About 15-20 years ago, you needed to be 25-26 years old and have a couple of good seasons in the J-League and the national team. But now European teams understand that. The Japanese are very talented and not a fad. That's why they look to young players."

A typical example is Kubo – who spent time playing for the Barcelona youth team and moved to Real Madrid at the age of 18.

In order to support youth training, the J-League has a project called "Football Vision 2030" to "create a world-class football". In this project is the DNA project - a long-term plan to help Japanese clubs train top players and coaches.

Former J-League president Mitsuru Murai always encourages players to go to Europe to play football in the hope that they will one day return, bringing experience to spread.

According to technical consultant Richard Allen of Yokohama FC, the arrival of the best players in Europe is like a brain drain for the domestic league. However, he believes this is the right path for young players to develop themselves: "They need diversity, they need to play against opponents like Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid or Arsenal. Juventus... to be able to develop and gain experience."

The diversity and struggle with the top opponent in the world can't be in Japan, even though J-League calls himself like Premier League of Asia and special in Thailand. In the last few years, J-League became the destination of foreign stars. Former like Iniesta, Fernando Torres and David Villa played years of his career in the open country. A statistically indicated that by the Japanese player, the country owns a number of second players at J-League is Brazil with 56 players. It's a significant change of change compared to the time Zico went to Kashima Antlers first years of 1990. When it was, the Brazilian legend snapped with the laugh teammates after failure and forced interpreter had to be pissed again.

According to journalist Masatoshi Mori, in all sports, Japan is always the innovators who create new tactics but it is a bit late to do so with football when it has developed and globalized. However, he believes that with a generation of many good players like today, Japan can make an unprecedented breakthrough for Asian football at the 2022 World Cup. Or at least, defeating two houses at the same time. Former world champions Germany and Spain topping the last group of Death will give Japanese players more confidence to stay on the chosen journey.