The sparkle of “Inazuma” defeats Germany and Turkey! Junya Ito changes the concept of “players in their 30s

Moriyasu Japan greatly raised its global reputation with comfortable 4-1 and 4-2 victories over European powerhouses Germany and Turkey, respectively. Germany dismissed coach Hans Flick (58) and Turkey sacked Stefan Kunz (60) immediately after the match against Japan on September 9. Japan is likely to be feared as a “coach killer” by other countries.

Junya Ito (Stade Reims), 30, aka “Junya Inazuma,” shined brightly in those two games. Against Germany, he scored the first goal in the 11th minute and assisted Kisei Ueda’s (25, Feyenoord) second goal in the 22nd minute. Against Turkey, he came on at the beginning of the second half, just as Japan was falling behind, and scored the fourth goal, a penalty kick taken by the Japanese defender with tremendous speed. He was able to score the game-winning goal.

I was given the penalty kick by myself, so I was determined to kick it myself,” he said. （I was given the penalty kick by myself, so I was determined to kick it by myself.

Ito, who had a bittersweet memory of taking penalties, was relieved.

When I was in Genk, there was a penalty shootout against Antwerp (in the Belgian Cup in December 2019), and we lost because I missed a penalty kick. Since then, I had a feeling that I didn’t like penalty kicks, or rather, I wasn’t good at them, so I hadn’t kicked any for a long time. To begin with, it was the first time I kicked a penalty kick in a match since I became a professional. I was able to take it at Genk Stadium, so I think I was able to break the bad momentum. I think I will be able to kick with confidence from now on.

Ito has scored 12 goals for the national team, the most among the main members of the second Moriyasu Japan team. It seems likely that he will continue to add to his tally.

Ito is now, in both name and reality, an “ace-level attacker for Japan,” but compared to other players such as Kaoru Mitoma (26, Brighton), Daichi Kamata (27, Lazio), and Kubo Takefusa (22, Real Sociedad), he seems to have attracted a little less attention. Why is this? The main reason may be the difference in the prestige of the clubs they belong to.