Morita started in Japan’s win over Tunisia / photograph: Kenzaburo Matsuoka
One after another Japanese footballers such as Kaoru Mitoma, Takefusa Kubo and Junya Ito are making their marks in Europe. As a result of their success it may be difficult for people around the world to imagine, but did you know that Japanese football has struggled with a certain weakness for many years?
Philippe Troussier, who led Japan to the last 16 of the World Cup in 2002, identified this weakness when he arrived in the country, asking:
“Why don’t Japanese people cross the road when there is no obvious sign of a car coming, just because the traffic light is red?”
If you come to Japan, you will see many people quietly waiting for the traffic lights to change even on roads where there are no cars at all. In Japan, obeying rules and instructions is seen as a virtue, and is taught from a young age.
In other words, Troussier was trying to say the following:
The purpose of obeying traffic signals is to ensure personal safety, not just to obey the rules. Why don’t Japanese people instead try to judge the situation for themselves and then act accordingly? This is the same in football. Instead of simply following the coach’s instructions and rules, you should make your own decisions about the situation and play as necessary, even if this sometimes means ignoring instructions. I think this doesn’t happen because Japanese players are looking to avoid taking decisions and responsibility.
Incidentally, the players coached by Troussier were able to make small changes to their defensive tactics during the tournament in 2002, while playing with a system of three centre-backs.
What is he talking about? What are the Japanese thinking? The reader’s head may be full of such questions, but Japanese people in general have always been very serious about not crossing at a red light.
However, more than 20 years after Troussier stepped down as national coach, a few Japanese players are now stepping out onto the road. They can take responsibility for their own decisions and play the way they need to win. One such player is Hidemasa Morita, who plays in midfield for Sporting Club Portugal.
In his book, ‘The Skill of Cunning – Zurugashikosa no Gijutsu’, Morita describes his experience at Sporting as being the most important thing Japan lacks to compete with the best in the world.
“He (Coach Ruben Amorim) got very angry with us (for a quick restart by his side in the opposition half). If we had all surrounded the referee and protested, the subsequent judgments might have been in our favour. A small margin can make the difference between winning and losing. Next time there is a similar situation, all of you protest! Even if you realise that your team-mate has fallen on purpose, go and protest seriously,” Morita said his coach had complained.
“It would be difficult to find a coach in Japan who would give such instructions.”
Morita was never an honours student by Japanese standards to begin with, he says. He did not just follow what he was told but thought for himself and took action. There was competition with his teammates and various ways to win battles against opponents. The intelligent play he showed for the national team and Sporting, in which he deceived his opponents, was probably due to the un-Japanese way of thinking he had developed from an early age. When Morita went to Portugal, he was once again convinced that the Japanese needed to be more cunning.
Incidentally, his book also describes how to stop Kaoru Mitoma. Morita, who is two years older than Mitoma, played in the university league before joining the same Kawasaki Frontale team as Mitoma. Even back then, Morita was convinced that Mitoma would eventually make it in Europe. How would he stop Mitoma? The defensive midfielder says that instead of holding his body at an angle to Mitoma (like a full-back typically would), he instead stands directly in front and gets close before taking the ball. Would that really work?
Thus far we haven’t seen a match-up between Morita’s Sporting and Mitoma’s Brighton, but both are in the Europa League this year so it could be on the cards if both teams reach the final round of the competition.