There is a certain quiet ruthlessness about Hajime Moriyasu's Japan that has been brewing for some time, and tonight's clash with Tunisia offers anoth...
There is a certain quiet ruthlessness about Hajime Moriyasu's Japan that has been brewing for some time, and tonight's clash with Tunisia offers another glimpse into a side shedding its Asian dominance for genuine global ambition. The team sheet from the GoalZaza correspondent on the ground confirms a significant stiffening of the spine, with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ko Itakura returning to anchor that back three. This is not tinkering for the sake of it; this is a coach who understands that knockout football, or even a statement group stage performance, is built on defensive solidity first. You do not survive the later rounds of a World Cup without a low block that can bend but never break, and Moriyasu is clearly using these warm up matches to perfect that shape.Yet for all the structural reassurance at the back, the creative heartbeat of this Japan side has taken a worrying blow. The absence of Takefusa Kubo through injury is a gut punch, plain and simple. Here is a playmaker who can unlock a stubborn defence with a single shift of his hips, a man who thrives in transitional play and turns half chances into clear openings. To lose him alongside the already missing Kaoru Mitoma and Takumi Minamino is to lose the very essence of your attacking unpredictability. Can a front three featuring Ito and Tanaka really replicate that kind of incision It feels like a big ask against a Tunisia side that will be well drilled and physical, a team that will look to smother space and punish any hesitation.The tactical blueprint remains the same 3. 4. 3 structure that has served Moriyasu so well, but the personnel changes force a subtle recalibration. Without Kubo's ability to drift and find pockets between the lines, Japan may lean heavier on the overlapping centre backs and the energy of their wide forwards. The question is whether that plan is enough to break down a team that will likely park the bus for long stretches. This is squeaky bum time for the Samurai Blue, not because they lack quality, but because their path to goals has suddenly become far more predictable. Tunisia will have watched the tapes; they know who is missing. It is now down to the men on the pitch to prove that this Japanese machine can still create magic when its most gifted artist is sitting in the stands.
