Inevitable Asia Cup Exit: Troussier Unveils Weaknesses in Moriyasu’s Japan
Why was Vietnam, ranked 94th in FIFA, able to catch Japan, ranked 17th?
It was a complete defeat. Especially in the second half, we were on the defensive.
In added time, the defense finally gave up and gave up a penalty kick to Iran. Moriyasu’s team, which had been tasked with becoming Asian champions in order to reach the last eight of the World Cup, suffered the humiliation of being eliminated in the last eight of the Asian Cup.
The second Moriyasu Japan team had been hailed by the sports media as the “strongest national team in history” after defeating Germany and other powerhouses in international friendlies.
However, the flaws in the team’s performance were obvious, and there was no way the opposing countries would overlook them when it came to serious competition. For example, the Vietnamese team that clashed with Japan in the Asian Cup group league, although ranked 94th and 17th in the FIFA rankings and far below Japan, scored two goals to take a temporary lead over Japan, only to suffer a 2-4 setback and come up short in a close game.
