World Cup: Japan To Show Progress Against The Netherlands

ARLINGTON (Texas), June 14 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu urged his players to show their work over the past three and a half years when they take on the Netherlands in their opening World Cup match on Sunday, Kyodo News reported.

Speaking at Dallas Stadium a day before the Group F encounter, Moriyasu said the 18th-ranked Samurai Blue have sought to be more proactive since the tournament in Qatar in 2022, when they were dominated early by Germany and Spain before beating both in dramatic second-half comebacks.

"We have a basic tactic, while we can now also play with many options presented to the players by our coaches," Moriyasu said.

"It's not just about expressing the style of play we like, but also doing something that the other team do not like."

Having also beaten Brazil at home and England away in friendlies since last October, Moriyasu said his country can no longer expect higher-ranked opponents to take their foot off the gas.

"They left us with a bit of a gap to exploit at the last tournament, but they would be analysing us and cautious this time," the manager said. "As Japan take on the world from now on, there's no chance of that (being underestimated)."

Much of the pre-match talk has centred around the departure of captain Wataru Endo from the squad before his immediate international retirement, and Moriyasu, who made the final decision based on the medical team's report, was apologetic.

"I knew I was telling something really terrible to the player," Moriyasu said. "When I spoke to Wataru, although I couldn't tell what was going through his mind of course, he listened to me extremely calmly and we spoke to each other calmly."

"I'm really sorry to have done something which also hurt his treasured family and people supporting him...The decision was made for the team, for Japan, without forgetting the respect for the player."

Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman, their captain at the last World Cup in the United States in 1994, when they went out in the last eight against eventual champions Brazil, was wary of Japan but also confident in his eighth-ranked side.

"(Japan's) style of play is attacking. I'd rather not talk about individual players," he said. "We know that Japan have substance, the physical stamina to play at full throttle for 90 minutes, but we also know where our opportunities lie."

"There are moments where there are spaces we can take advantage of, and that's the case with Japan too...We respect them because they've also achieved very good results in recent years, so we know who we're up against and we're prepared for that."

-- BERNAMA-KYODO