On the first day of 2024, the Thai national team suffered a 0-5 defeat against the Japanese national team. Even though it was only a friendly match, Japan showed a completely superior level against Thailand. New coach Masatada Ishii tried to build a multi-layered defense for “War Elephants” but could only last until the 50th minute, after which Japan broke the deadlock and scored 4 more goals.
Japan’s strength is fully reflected with many players competing in Europe. Coach Moriyasu has summoned 20 players to play in Europe, 5 domestic players and 1 player to play in Qatar. Japan’s preparation list for the 2024 Asian Cup can be said to create a maximum challenge for opponents in the group stage including Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam. Japan is definitely a very difficult problem waiting for coach Troussier to solve on January 14.
Thailand lost 0-5 to Japan. Photo: FAT
In the past, U23 Vietnam defeated Japan 1-0 in Asiad 18. That was a historic victory for Vietnamese football against Japan. Coach Park Hang-seo promoted the fighting spirit of Vietnamese players with the view of overcoming the psychological barrier that has never defeated Japan. “ Even though we won all two matches and won tickets to continue, we are determined to win again with Japan U23. I told the players that Vietnamese teams have never won against Japan before. Therefore, the whole team must overcome this barrier, helping the juniors to be more comfortable in the future when meeting Japanese teams.” Coach Park Hang-seo said.
Coach Park Hang-seo’s thoughts are completely correct. Vietnam national team met Japan in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Asian Cup and only narrowly lost 0-1. Ritsu Doan scored the only goal on the penalty spot to help Japan advance. Vietnam had a confident match with many times creating waves for the opponent, including an impressive performance by Cong Phuong.
Vietnam national team under coach Park Hang-seo also had two matches against Japan in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. Vietnam lost 0-1 in the first leg and drew 1-1 with Japan away from home. Coach Park Hang-seo’s impression is really clear, from the reasonable playing style to the strong playing spirit and strong physical foundation of the Vietnamese team against Japan.
Coach Park Hang-seo once helped U23 Vietnam defeat Japan.
The 0-5 defeat of the Thai national team against Japan further confirmed the talent of Coach Park Hang-seo. Because without coach Park’s reasonable tactics, the Vietnamese team could not draw with Japan, or have 2 narrow defeats, especially the historic victory of U23 Vietnam in Asiad 18.
Hopefully, the impressive achievements and tenacious fighting spirit under Coach Park Hang-seo will be of great help to Coach Troussier at the 2024 Asian Cup.
