Japan beat Canada to win their fifth straight game – what was behind their impressive goal rush, netting 22 in five matches?

Japan keep their momentum brilliantly.

Japan national team played Canada in Niigata on 13 October and won it by 4-1. With five wins, one draw, and one defeat after the World Cup in Qatar, they have now recorded five consecutive victories since the game against El Salvador on 15 June. Although these were friendly matches, the value of the triumphs was not insignificant, as the opponents included European and South American football nations such as Germany, Peru, and Turkey.

Moreover, all five wins have been by four goals or more, recording 22 goals in five games (24 in seven). This is an unimaginable situation from the past when Japan were plagued by a lack of goalscoring ability.

Junya Ito and Kaoru Mitoma are playing with confidence

One of the reasons for this is the ability of the individual talents. In the 4-2-3-1 system, the second row is packed with Kaoru Mitoma, Takefusa Kubo, Daichi Kamada, Junya Ito, and Ritsu Doan, all of them are the starters of European clubs, while the front row includes Ayase Ueda, Kyogo Furuhashi and Takuma Asano are also talented. They play with confidence even against the best teams in the world, and their boldness and goal-oriented approach has led to good results.

Another factor is their tactical shift. The most obvious example of this is the ball possession rate. In the two matches in March when they didn’t win (against Uruguay and Colombia), the possession rate exceeded 50% in both cases. On the other hand, it was below 45% in the four matches during the five-match winning streak, except for the match against El Salvador in which one of the opponents was sent off. Especially against Germany, it was only 32%.

These figures indicate their intentions of attacking vertically and quickly, rather than playing possession-oriented style.

At the Qatar World Cup, Japan’s possession rate was 26% against Germany and only 17% against Spain, because they played defensively with a five-back formation, aiming counter attacks and defending resolutely with high concentration.

However, Japan now try to play differently with 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 formation, pressing hard and focusing on quick transition. They build up from the back, and play more boldly, launching vertical passes from the midfield. This has allowed Ito, Mitoma, and the other attacking talents to come to life more often.

Takehiro Tomiyasu and Wataru Endo, the pillars of Japan

Of course, high pressing could be risky, but even if dodged, there are good defensive midfielders in Wataru Endo and Hidemasa Morita, as well as Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kou Itakura, who can cover a wide area in the back line. This high-pressing, high-intensity style of play suits Japan with speedy attacking talents.

Although there is no absolute striker, many players are involved for goals – not only from the second row but also from the midfield, with unique talents such as Ao Tanaka who can pop up in the box at the right time to score goals. The team’s top scorer in this year is Keito Nakamura, who has netted four, while there have been 14 different scorers of the 24 goals in total.

With the first goals scored in the first 15 minutes in five of the seven matches, Japan’s aggressive approach from the start is also a factor in the momentum they have generated.

However, there are some problems. In the game against Turkey, Japan was chased back from 3-0 to 3-2 at one stage, and in the Peru and Canada games, they conceded a goal in the closing stages. Coach Hajime Moriyasu must see this as an issue, and the team’s game management should be corrected.

Even so, the hope is getting bigger. Despite Mitoma, Kamada, and Doan were not called up for the match against Canada, and Kubo didn’t come off the bench, Japan still managed to crush Canada, a Qatar World Cup participant who defeated Japan last year.