Asiad 2018: Japan's Olympic team members are all under 21 years old

Accordingly, the Japan Football Federation confirmed on its homepage that the country's Olympic team competing at the 2018 Asian Games will be the U21 team. The Japanese want to use the 2018 Asian Games as a training tournament for players who will participate in the 2020 Olympics held in Tokyo 2 years later.

Olympic Vision 2020

Japan U21 team. Photo: Internet

To aim for the 2020 Olympic men's football gold medal, Japanese football has had a long-term preparation. At the 2018 AFC U23 Championship in China, Japan only brought its U21 team to the tournament. As a result, they had to stop in the quarterfinals after losing 0-4 to U23 Uzbekistan - the team that later narrowly won 2-1 against U23 Vietnam in the final thanks to a goal in the 120th minute by substitute Sidorov.

They recently participated in Sport For Tomorrow, a friendly football tournament as part of the Japanese government's support program in South America. Japan U21 lost 0-2 to Chile U21, drew 3-3 with Venezuela U21 (PEN: 4-1), and lost 1-2 to Paraguay U21.

This is the generation of players who participated in the 2016 AFC U19 Championship. In that tournament, Japan U19 won 3-0 against Vietnam U19 in the semi-finals, before winning the overall championship of the tournament. It can be said that the Japan Football Federation has prepared quite thoroughly for the 2020 Olympics, in which football is on the list of key sports that the host is determined to win medals. Young players are continuously sent to participate in continental tournaments to gain experience, they are a young but not immature team. A strategy that Vietnamese football managers need to learn.

Table D situation

Van Hau will meet his old opponent who they faced 2 years ago at the 2016 AFC U19 Championship. Photo: Internet

In Group D of the 2018 Asian Games men's football, the Vietnamese Olympic team has a chance to compete for a ticket to the knockout round of the tournament in Indonesia in mid-August. Before entering the confrontation with the Japanese Olympic team in Group D of the 2018 Asian Games, Coach Park Hang Seo and his team will face Pakistan and Nepal in the two previous matches.

The list of the Japanese Olympic team participating in the 2018 Asian Games includes 12 players who were with the Japanese U19 team participating in the 2016 U19 Asian Cup. That allows them to quickly top Group D and advance deep into the tournament. The Vietnamese Olympic team with names such as Quang Hai, Van Hau, Duc Chinh, Trong Dai, Tan Sinh, Tien Linh is having a favorable schedule, facing increasingly stronger opponents before facing the Japanese Olympic team.

List of Japanese Olympic teams participating in Asiad 2018:

Goalkeeper

1 OBI Powell Obinna (Ryutsu Keizai University)

12 YAMAGUCHI Louis Takaji Julien (Extremadura UD / Spain)

23 HATANO Go (FC Tokyo)

Defender

4 ITAKURA Kou (Vegalta Sendai)

3 NAKAYAMA Yuta (Kashiwa Reysol)

20 SHIIHASHI Keiya (Vegalta Sendai)

15 SUGIOKA Daiki (Shonan Bellmare)

5 TOMIYASU Takehiro (Sint-Truidense VV / Belgium)

Midfielder

10 MIYOSHI Koji (Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)

17 ENDO Keita (Yokohama )

16 MORISHIMA Tsukasa (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)

8 MITOMA Kaoru (University of Tsukuba)

14 MATSUMOTO Taishi (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)

6 HATSUSE Ryo (Gamba Osaka)

7 INOUE Shion (Tokyo Verdy)

2 FUJITANI So (Vissel Kobe)

18 SUGA Daiki (Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)

Forward

9 OGAWA Koki (Jubilo Iwata)

13 UEDA Ayase (Hosei University)

11 TAGAWA Kyosuke (Sagan Tosu)