Opening
From November 20 to December 18, the one-month Qatar World Cup fell at the Lucerne Stadium. 64 games ushered in countless highlights, and football once again used its huge influence to warm the whole world in this cold winter. Whether it is the gods who have come to an end or the rising star; whether it is the rising Asian and African football, or the European and American heroes who are still stable; whether it is the joy, anger, sorrow and joy that pushes emotions to the peak, or the rigor brought by technology, all 64 games in the Qatar World Cup have passed. What stories are worth reading during the 28-day schedule?
At the Qatar World Cup, Asian teams became a highlight of this event - 3 teams entered the top 16 and won 7 wins in total. These data set historical records. Saudi team defeated Argentina, Japanese team reversed Germany and Spain in succession, forcing Croatia into a penalty shootout, and the South Korean team won Portugal. These heavy wins were enough to win respect from the European and American football circles.
022 Qatar World Cup 1/8 finals, Japan and Croatia did not decide until the penalty shootout, and the Blue Samurai stopped in the top 16 and still failed to break through the best record in the team history. According to the picture, IC photo , after the expansion of the 2026 World Cup, the Asian region won 8.5 places, which caused controversy. However, in the Qatar World Cup, except for the host, the other five teams in the Asian region won, and 50% of the group qualifying ratio was the same as South American teams, tied for second place , second only to European teams with 61.5%, leading African teams with 40% qualifying ratio and 25% of the Central, North and Caribbean teams. Asian teams have also used their efforts and achievements to convince the outside world that even if the number of places in the competition increases to 8.5, Asian Football will not drag the World Cup down.
Among all Asian teams, the performance of the Japanese team is the most amazing. Although they fell in the 1/8 finals, they defeated the two former World Cup champions, Germany and Spain, and tied the last runner-up Croatia team within 120 minutes. They are all classic battles that fans can talk about for a long time. "The Light of Asian Football" is truly worthy of its name. In fact, fans have seen a lot of inspirations about Japanese football over the years, but it still does not prevent us from still exploring the secrets of Japanese football's progress and success. To this end, Red Star News exclusively interviewed Japanese football experts, Mr. Zhu Xiaodong, who worked in Japanese J League , FIFA and other institutions. Based on the performance of the Japanese team in the World Cup, he dissected this most typical "light sample of Asian football" for us.
[Why is Japanese football successful? 】
"A Japanese soldier" over the past 30 years, they have long-term plans for
Regarding the performance of the Japanese team in the World Cup, Zhu Xiaodong said: "In fact, it was still beyond expectations."
Zhu Xiaodong, who has a wide connection in the Japanese football circle, revealed that although before the World Cup, Japanese Football Association set the goal for the team to reach the quarterfinals, "but because they are the same as the Spanish and German teams. In the group of death, so if you fail to qualify, the Japanese football circle is actually acceptable. I really didn’t expect that they finally advanced as the first place in the group and defeated the two former world champions of Germany and Spain!”
In the past, when Chinese media and fans summed up the inspiration brought by the progress of Japanese football, they all talked about it from the development of campus football and youth training, to the popularization of social football, the structure of professional leagues, and to the large-scale overseas study in recent years. So, in Zhu Xiaodong's view, which of the above elements plays the most critical role in the performance of the Japanese team in this World Cup?
The Japanese team returned to China after being eliminated from the World Cup, and a large number of fans picked up the plane at the airport. Photo according to IC photo
"I think Japanese football is constantly making progress!" Zhu Xiaodong said.In his opinion, in the past 30 years, Japanese football has always given the outside world a bright feeling every few years. " On the 1994 Asian Games , the inconspicuous Japanese football at that time gave people a refreshing feeling. From then on, they were constantly improving in the way of "one-day trumpet". Some Asian teams cannot be said to have made no progress, but they always feel that they are two steps forward, three steps back, or one step back. In the long run, they are making slow progress, or they have made a retreat instead. ! "
Zhu Xiaodong said, "Always improving" is a very obvious feature of Japanese football over the years, "so we should think about what is the reason behind their continuous progress? Football is a relatively long-term industry. Japanese football has built a complete pyramid structure over the past 30 years, and the tower foundation is very large. Then it continues to survive the fittest. Every year, a large number of new players will enter the top of the pyramid, and at the same time, there will be A large number of players fell from the top of the tower. This also urged Japanese players to maintain their best condition, they must constantly demonstrate their abilities in the game, rather than in training. Japanese coach Takeshi Okada, who once coached in China, once told me that he thought that the biggest difference between Asian players and European players at that time was that their attitudes were different in training. At that time, Asian players were often relaxed and casual in training, so they did not play one formal game in 10 training games. There was not enough It is difficult to achieve real growth in training, so Japanese football has been putting pressure on players to make progress. So back to the topic just now, the biggest feature of Japanese football is not that it makes a big splash, but that it has grown a lot at once. Instead, it has been growing for more than 30 years, which shows that it has long-term goals and plans, rather than overturning and starting over every four or five years. This is a very waste of valuable resources and precious time. "
[What has youth training brought to Japanese football? 】
has formed a huge talent pool , and a two-way channel that can advance or retreat
In the past, when it comes to the progress of Japanese football, we must talk about "youth training". The sound campus football and youth training system of Japanese football has provided a steady stream of talents to the national team, and there are also quite a lot of typical figures in this World Cup.
For youth training, coaching talents are indispensable, but they are the most scarce. In the process of vigorously promoting campus football in China, many coaches were encountered in the problem that they were just physical education teachers and were not professional football. Therefore, many knowledgeable people are also calling for more retired professional players to participate in youth training. However, due to the limited income of youth training coaches and campus football coaches, many retired professional players are not very interested in this. So what is the source and income of coaches in the youth training of Japanese football?
In this regard, Zhu Xiaodong introduced that Japanese football is divided into two systems: campus football and club youth training. "Their grassroots campus football coaches are actually amateurs. Some are school teachers, and some use weekends to work part-time because of their love for football. They have passed the job certificate of the Japanese Football Association, and then they can teach children of different ages to play football according to the level of the certificate. This group is more out of a hobby, which is the role of football enlightenment for children. And the youth training of Japanese clubs is another system. The coaches here are elite coaches and will accept the japanese football association systematically. Various trainings. In addition to training, these elite coaches will also play the role of scouts. The Japanese Football Association or clubs have the requirement for them to discover some good seedlings at the grassroots level, and recommend them to the club's echelon or local training camps. The Japanese Football Association's training camp is set up in nine major regions, and there will be two large training sessions a year. training camps will track the discovered football talents for a long time to form a talent pool for Japanese football . Therefore, the youth training system of Japanese football is based on a very large foundation, and has cultivated a large number of youth training coaches for many years, which has indeed formed a good system of youth training coaches and scouts."
Local time, on January 10, 2022, Tokyo, Japan, in the 100th Japan High School Football League final, more than 40,000 fans entered the stadium to watch the game. Photo According to IC photo
, regarding the income of those amateur campus football coaches in Japan, Zhu Xiaodong said that he did not hear that there were particularly high rewards, "Youth training coaches, scouts, etc. assigned by the club or the Football Association, which is their job. More people who are involved will think that they are engaged in this job because they love football. They usually have their own formal professions, and training with children may bring some subsidies for life, and their motivation mainly comes from love. "
In Zhu Xiaodong's view, the reason why Japanese football youth training is successful is not only because of the formation of coaching talents, but also because of the formation of a "two-way channel". " In China, many parents are unwilling to engage in football in their children because they are worried that they will not be able to enter the professional team in the future. After all, the probability is very small, like walking on a single-plank bridge. Once you fail to enter the professional club and waste your studies, it means you will not be able to come back after crossing this bridge. This bridge of Japanese football is two-way. While children are chasing their football dreams, they also have more choices, which will have much less resistance for parents. This is related to Japan's education system. Many good high schools and universities have independent enrollment quotas, which can absorb children with sports expertise to participate in high school leagues and university leagues. Japanese football has a complete competition system, and many players have grown from high school and college leagues to professional players. If it turns out that some children can no longer continue to follow the football path, they still have a lot of room after they come down, such as going to college and receiving higher education. ”
[Why are there hundreds of Japanese players traveling to Europe?]
Many people have no chance in China, and the low revenue of the Japanese league is also a driving force
. Regarding the performance of the Japanese team in this World Cup, many media and fans have mentioned a data from the German transfer market statistics in 2021: At that time, there were 451 players in Japanese football played in leagues in various European countries! The number of is enough to make Chinese fans envious. So what kind of motivation is that Japanese players are so eager to play football in Europe? Japanese football is connected again What channels have been used to allow hundreds of Japanese players to go to Europe?
Zhu Xiaodong introduced that in fact, these Japanese players are more in secondary and low-level leagues such as Segment 2 , segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, segment 2, These players who have not been selected have been trained for many years of campus football. They have not only certain abilities and strong desire to engage in the football industry. In this case, he may choose to go to some European minor leagues or the low-level leagues of the five major leagues and to try whether he can have the opportunity to make a name for himself. As Takeshi Okada said, the game is the fastest growth path. By participating in European small-country leagues or low-level leagues of football powers, they can grow rapidly in the game and have the potential to enter higher-level leagues. Because the quota of Japanese professional clubs is limited, they also encourage young players to look for opportunities abroad by themselves. The Japanese Football Association actually did not organize such things, and many of them were spontaneous. Since Japanese players have good foundations, they can often gain a foothold in these small leagues and seek further development. "
Japan J League Picture According to IC photo
Zhu Xiaodong also revealed that the current positioning of the Japanese Professional League is to build itself into "Asian Eredivisie " , "It is to continuously produce excellent players through the Japanese third-tier league, let them first enter the domestic big clubs, and then go to European clubs to play. Therefore, the Japanese league has become the focus of many European clubs for poaching people. "
The Japanese players' income in the domestic league itself is not high, which also makes them not want to "lie down" in domestic clubs.After all, as an Asian League with a low overall level, if the salary income is higher than that of European clubs, this "inverted" situation will naturally be detrimental to players' desire to develop in Europe. Zhu Xiaodong said: "The average annual salary of international players who play for domestic Japanese clubs is about 600,000 to 700,000 US dollars. If you go to the top European league, your salary will definitely be higher than now. Moreover, the Japanese league has a regulation that players who have just signed with the club are a concept of interns. received a "dead salary" of about 50,000 US dollars in the first year. This is exactly the motivation to encourage Japanese players to go out."
It is this motivation that has made many Japanese players choose to study abroad in Europe. These players have played in the European League for a long time and are influenced by high-level football. They are very close to European players in terms of consciousness and tactical literacy, and have also paid back to , the Japanese national team , which is one of the reasons why the Japanese team became the "light of Asian football" in this World Cup. After seeing the changes brought by overseas players, the Japanese Football Association has spent a huge amount of money to build overseas training bases in Germany to make it easier for European players to start training regularly, and participate in international warm-up matches locally in Europe to strengthen mutual cooperation and tacit understanding.
[Can the dream of winning the World Cup of Japan Football Association be realistic? 】
They shouted for the 2050 World Cup in 2005. Now there is hope for
After the team ended the Qatar World Cup journey, the Japanese Football Association also shouted for the goal of "Have the dream of winning the World Cup" . This time, not many people mocked this.
"I remember that the Japanese Football Association actually proposed the vision of winning the 2050 World Cup as early as 2005." Zhu Xiaodong told the Red Star News reporter, "Japanese football does have this feature. He is willing to draw a big pie for everyone and let everyone work in this direction. Although sometimes this big pie is not that realistic, at least let the practitioners know where their goals are."
017 China Shanghai International Youth Football Invitational, Japan Yokohama Mariner (Blue Clothes) VS Shanghai Yangpu Picture According to IC photo Zhu Xiaodong said that more than ten years ago, he really had a lively mentality for Japanese football's goal of "winning the 2050 World Cup". "I feel like putting the words there first, it's still early anyway. But judging from the performance of the Japanese team this year's World Cup, including the premise that they have been making continuous progress over the past 30 years, I now think that if Japanese football can continue to develop along the right path, may really be able to achieve such a goal in the 2050 World Cup ."
Red Star News Reporter Jiang Shan
Editor Ou Peng
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