Kubo Takefusa’s “indifferent response” to defeat reveals “serious problems for Moriyasu Japan

Japan, the team expected to win the AFC Asian Cup, lost to Iran in the last eight. The host nation, Qatar, and Jordan will clash in the final at midnight on January 11 (Japan Standard Time).

The Japanese team, which had been proclaiming itself and others to be the top favorite to win the tournament, had a bland and unenthusiastic performance. The final tournament matchups had the possibility of a Japan-Korea match in the finals, but South Korea, too, was eliminated in the semifinals by Jordan, one place higher than Japan. However, Korea’s fighting spirit had the “obsession with victory” that Takehiro Tomiyasu pointed out was lacking in Japan, and there was a passion that was at times wild and full of emotion. Watching the Korea match, on the contrary, highlighted Japan’s blandness.

Immediately after the Iran game, Kozo Tajima, chairman of the Japan Football Association, declared that Hajime Moriyasu would continue as coach, but the somewhat chilly comments heard from the players were indicative of the team’s current state.

Kubo Takefusa, who did not play a full match but started all but the first match against Vietnam, and was expected to play a key role in the team, was also indifferent. Kubo, who usually speaks relatively quickly, was extremely quick after the Iran game.

I think we could have done more, and I think we could have done more in the difficult moments,” he said. I think I could have done more, and I think I could have done more at difficult times, but I think that’s my limit for the whole tournament. I did what I could do, so I don’t have anything in particular to reflect on.

Kubo showed more ability and potential for the future than at any previous tournament. However, immediately after the loss to Iran, he looked somewhat indigested, as if he had given up halfway through the game, and yet he was nonetheless nonchalant about the situation.

Looking back, Kubo was forced to stay at a hotel to watch the Qatar World Cup last-16 loss to Croatia in December of the year before last due to a sudden onset of fever. The day after the match, however, a still-nasal Kubo, with a refreshingly honest voice, touched on his own disappointment and said, “I want to aim for the Paris Olympics,” and then switched his focus to the Olympics.

Going back even further, when Kubo missed out on a medal by losing to Spain in the third-place match at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2009, she broke down in tears on the pitch, which was hard to imagine from her usual appearance. This time was somewhat different from the way she had looked immediately after such defeats in the past.

Immediately after a defeat, Kubo often spontaneously speaks of the issues and gains he felt, such as what he should have done differently, what was lacking, and what he would like to strengthen in the future. However, after the game against Iran, despite the lack of results, Kubo said, “That’s my limit right now,” and “I have nothing to reflect on. It was as if to say, “I lost because there were problems I couldn’t solve.

This was the first time for Kubo, who has often started on the bench for Japan’s national team, to start consecutively for the national team as he did this time. For Kubo, this was an important tournament in his quest to win a starting spot for the future. In the game against Iran, Kubo was substituted after 12 minutes when the score was 1-1, but he looks back on that as if it was something else.

I think this was my best game as the conditions were getting better and better, so personally, I think it was a little too soon to make a change, but that’s something a player can’t say,” he said.