Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu hopes to leave a legacy for his successor by winning the Asian Football Cup next January, before he steps down from his position after more than eight years leading the national team, he said Thursday.
Moriyasu will oversee Japan as it seeks to win the continental title for the first time in 16 years in the tournament hosted by Saudi Arabia.
After that, he will hand over the task to Go Oiwa, who is currently coaching the Japanese U-23 national team.
Japan was eliminated from this year's World Cup by Brazil in the round of 32 after conceding a last-minute goal on its way to a 1-2 loss.
Moriyasu maintained his confidence in most of these players when he announced his lineup for the upcoming four friendly matches at home, and said that he wanted to conclude his mission in the best possible way.
He said: “The leadership will change, but whoever takes over will have the same goal, which is to help Japan win and develop.”
He added: “We want to continue building towards the Asian Cup and then hand over the baton in a good way.”
Japan will play against Uruguay and Venezuela this month before participating in a quadrilateral tournament that includes Ecuador, New Zealand and Panama in October.
Moriyasu included new Aston Villa goalkeeper Zion Suzuki in his squad, along with Daichi Kamada and Takehiro Tomiyasu, Crystal Palace duo, and Daizen Maeda, Ipswich Town player.
Six players were excluded from the World Cup squad, while four players received their first call-ups, including Kurio Matsuki from Southampton.
Moriyasu said that his mission “is not to dismantle the team, but to continue on the same path,” adding: “I realize that continuing this approach gives us a better chance of winning the Asian Cup.”
He continued: “But the matter is not limited to repeating what happened previously, as there is always development and competition between the players.”
The draw placed Japan in a group in the Asian Cup that includes defending champions Qatar, Thailand and Indonesia.
Japan was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Iran in the tournament that was held three years ago in Qatar.
Japan will also play two friendly matches against Brazil and Paraguay in Singapore next November.
The housing crisis cast a shadow over the start of the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, amid anger and complaints from a number of participating delegations regarding the accommodation of athletes, after some of them faced problems ranging from short beds, water leakage, and poor room distribution, to the point where an official in one of the teams was forced to leave the residence and reserve a hotel room at his expense.
Criticism escalated before the official opening ceremony scheduled for Saturday, with South Korean officials describing the temporary housing units made of containers as “the worst ever,” stressing that the beds were too short, while Byun Joon-hyung, a player for the South Korean national basketball team, posted a video clip on social media showing a leaking sink and a flooded floor in his hut, and wrote with a caption: “Please help us.”
The organizing committee faces a challenge in accommodating more than 17,000 athletes and officials expected to participate in the largest sporting event on the continent, after it chose not to establish a traditional sports village, and to rely instead, in an attempt to reduce costs, on accommodation solutions distributed between a cruise ship, temporary units within the port area, and hotels.
Complaints were not limited to the nature of accommodation, as athletes faced hours of delay in registration procedures and activation of accreditation cards, in addition to problems in distributing rooms among athletes, coaches and officials, while several countries complained about the lack of accommodation.
Hisashi Mizutori, deputy head of the Japanese delegation participating in the tournament, said that some athletes had to wait for long hours. Because registration procedures and activation of accreditation cards take longer than expected.
Mizutori revealed other problems in distributing rooms, explaining that relying on numbers alone without taking into account practical aspects led to inappropriate arrangements. He gave an example of a group of 5 men and 5 women allocated 5 double rooms, which could lead to men and women living in shared rooms, or coaches staying with athletes, or bringing together coaches who need to store large amounts of medical equipment in the same room.
On Tuesday, the Italian cruise ship “Costa Serena” docked in Nagoya, where it will host about 4,000 athletes and officials, while about 2,000 other participants will reside in temporary housing units created from containers within the port area of Japan’s largest ports.
The organizing committee attributes the accommodation crisis to the number of participants exceeding initial estimates, as it expected about 15,000 athletes and officials to attend, before the number increased with the addition of new games to the tournament programme, while the ceiling of participants was later set at 17,000 people, with confirmation that accommodation would be provided for all.
Media reports said that the South Korean national team, the defending men's soccer champion in the Asian Games, was late for a training session yesterday (Wednesday) after the bus designated to transport it to the team's residence did not arrive.
The South Korean team, which began its campaign in Group D at the Aichi-Nagoya Games with a 4-1 victory over Qatar on Tuesday, arrived 20 minutes late for a light training session in Nagoya the next day, after officials had to quickly secure a replacement bus.
Reuters contacted the organizing committee to obtain a comment regarding the incident.
The logistical glitch came after a similar incident on Tuesday, when the team bus took the players to a baseball stadium instead of the Mizuho Rugby Stadium, which hosted the match, resulting in them arriving about 30 minutes behind schedule.
Yonhap News Agency quoted an official in the Korean Football Association as saying that a number of participating teams are suffering from similar transportation problems.
The official added: “Simple problems related to vehicle schedules and operating mechanisms have been recurring during training sessions and official events since the start of the tournament.”
He continued: “This is not a problem specific to our team, but rather it is currently faced by all teams participating in the tournament.”
The South Korean national team is scheduled to conclude its campaign in the group stage by facing Saudi Arabia on September 22.
