"Moriyasu Japan: Conditions for Winning Globally—A Theory of Japan National Team Managers"

2020/02/07

Whether it's soccer, baseball, or rugby, when people talk about a "manager," their "tactical ability" is immediately brought into question. This refers to tasks like analyzing opponents, deciding the starting lineup, and making substitutions. If a substituted player performs well enough to secure a victory, it is praised as "brilliant management."

However, that is only a small part of a manager's job. Players are flesh-and-blood human beings, not shogi pieces or video game characters. Their performance specs vary greatly depending on their physical condition and psychological state on any given day.

Preparing the players' condition and appealing to their emotions to help them perform at 100% capacity are also important parts of a manager's job, as is building an organization that includes coaches and other staff.

Since Hans Ooft (Netherlands) became the first foreign manager of the Japan national team in 1992, the year before the J.League's inaugural season, 11 managers (12 in total, as Takeshi Okada served twice) have led the team in World Cup challenges, up to the current Hajime Moriyasu.

These 11 managers, with completely different nationalities, backgrounds, and personalities, were each unique with a wide variety of coaching methods. Many will remember the eccentric Troussier; Zico, whose coaching style sparked debate over whether it was "freedom or neglect"; and Osim, who captured listeners' hearts with philosophical topics.

How did each manager aim to strengthen the national team? And why did they succeed (or fail)? As a journalist, I fought alongside them and sometimes clashed with them. In this book, I critique the work of each manager based on those memories and rate them on a scale of 100.

Based on that past, let's conduct a mid-term assessment of Manager Moriyasu.

After finishing as runners-up in the January 2019 Asian Cup, Manager Moriyasu prioritized scouting new talent over team building. As a result, the team's development was delayed, leading to a crushing defeat in the U-23 Asian Championship in January. While this might have been within the manager's expectations, he must now accelerate team building for the Tokyo Olympics in July and the World Cup qualifiers starting in September.

Let's see how he fares.

"Moriyasu Japan: Conditions for Winning Globally—A Theory of Japan National Team Managers"

Takeo Goto

NHK Publishing Shinsho

256 pages, 850 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations, job titles, etc., are as of the time of publication.