Japan will send a squad full of European flavor to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup this month, likely offering the biggest challenge to South Korea’s bid to end a 64-year title drought.
Japan announced their 26-man squad on New Year’s Day, with Hajime Moriyasu in charge.
Of those 26 players, 20 of them ply their club trade in Europe. At No. 17 in the latest FIFA rankings, the Samurai Blue will be the highest-ranked AFC team at the Jan. 12-Feb. 10 tournament in Qatar. South Korea are the third in that category at No. 23.
Japan will play Iraq, Indonesia and Vietnam in Group D, while South Korea will face Bahrain, Jordan and Malaysia in Group E. Should the East Asian rivals win their respective groups and keep advancing through the knockouts, they will clash in the championship final.
South Korea won the first two editions of the Asian Cup, in 1956 and 1960, but have gone without a title since. Japan lead all countries with four Asian Cup titles, most recently in 2011.
In the semifinals of
the 2011 tournament, Japan knocked off South Korea in the penalty shootout.
In 81 all-time meetings against Japan, South Korea have posted 42 wins, 23 draws and 16 losses. Since 2011, however, Japan have had five wins, one draw and two losses. Both of the countries’ past two meetings ended in a 3-0 win for Japan.
Japan’s Asian Cup squad features some familiar names for South Korean fans. Reo Hatate and Dizen Maeda of Celtic FC are teammates in Scotland with South Korean players Oh Hyeon-gyu and Yang Hyun-jun, both of whom made the South Korean squad announced last Thursday. Takefusa Kubo of Real Sociedad was once teammates with South Korean international Lee Kang-in when they both played at RCD Mallorca. The two have remained friends since.
Takumi Minamino of AS Monaco once played with South Korean midfielder Hwang Hee-chan at Red Bull Salzburg, and during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Minamino called Hwang his “best friend” on the South Korean squad.
KAA Gent defender Tsuyoshi Watanabe is teammates with South
Korean midfielder Hong Hyun-seok, who is expected to make his Asian Cup debut. For VfB Stuttgart, Japanese defender Hiroki Ito and South Korean attacker Jeong Woo-yeong have been teammates since the start of the 2023-24 season. Before joining Stuttgart, Jeong played with another Japanese international, Ritsu Doan, at SC Freiburg.
Japan lost only one match out of 10 in 2023. They closed out the year on an eight-match winning streak, which included a 4-1 beatdown of Germany in September. Japan then beat Thailand 5-0 in a friendly on New Year’s Day in Tokyo.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
