Match of the first day between Japan and Turkmenistan.
Japan has regained the identity of Japanese football based on a hyper-elaborate style and very long and slow possessions, compared to a few years in which it explored other ways beyond “good football” in favor of results. The turn to the most natural style has been possible thanks to the withdrawal of men like Honda, Hasebe or Gotoku Sakai, as well as the exclusions of men like Kawashima, Kagawa, Inui, Okazaki for this tournament.
Therefore the weight of the team will fall on several high-level midfielders who will accumulate the Japanese box: especially Nakajima, but also Minamino, Doan (these 3 under 25 and base of Japan of the future) and Shibasaki all in European football. In addition the increase of players of local league assigns that turn towards a more conservative style towards the Japanese.
The experience is provided by players like Shibasaki who is not playing in Getafe and especially the defenders: Nagatomo, Sakai and Yoshida are established players with long careers in Japanese international football.
It is clear that Japan is looking more long term than this Asian Cup towards the 2022 World Cup and above all, the 2020 games in Tokyo. That is why this tournament is just a preparation phase for a new generation that should give more level in the future.
Turkmenistan is a very underground selection that is in the next tournament mainly thanks to the relationship between the team and Altyn Asyr of the Turkmen league, which as seen in the scheme brings up to 9 of the 11 holders of the selection, and 11 of those summoned. Perhaps that is the virtue of this selection and from there it must be analyzed. This club recently achieved a monumental success as a finalist in the AFC Cup. In addition, the coach is the coach of Altyn Asyr so we almost talk about a club-selection. Therefore, the strengths of this team are unity, coordination and it seems that the physical condition that allows an excellent defensive performance that makes this team a hard nut to crack.
The problem with this relationship is that the coach himself has ignored interesting players who are not in his club, and only the extreme Ruslan Mingazow of the Czech league breaks his schemes. Perhaps the most outstanding player technically is Annadurdiyev, who until 3 years ago played futsal …
Surprisingly good performance for a country of such a small entity. He became very strong in his stadium and asserted this issue to prevail and qualify. In addition to preparation only one game since it achieved the classification: on Christmas Day this year an Afghanistan 0-2 Turkmenistan.
We are going to see a turcomano fronton before the slow and long possessions of the Japanese players, that in addition have their greater security in the rear. From then on, this is a question of what a Turkmenistan endures that I doubt very much puts the Japanese goal in a bind.
PREDICTION: Over 3.5 goals @ 1.80
