Yoshida: Japan must find the right balance - JAPAN
“We’ve not been doing well at all.”
Maya Yoshida is disarmingly honest in his assessment of Japan, and there is no accusing him of false modesty. By their own high standards, set by winning three of the four AFC Asian Cups between 2000 and 2011, there is no denying the Samurai Blue have recently been falling short.
A limp, winless FIFA World Cup™ campaign in Brazil set the tone, and worse followed when, as holders and favourites, they crashed out of the Asian Cup quarter-finals to United Arab Emirates. Those setbacks also came sandwiched between two coaching changes, as Alberto Zaccheroni quit and Javier Aguirre was sacked – all within the space of nine months.
It was then that the call went out to Vahid Halilhodzic, the Bosnia and Herzegovinian whose abrasive approach and adventurous tactics made Algeria one of Brazil 2014’s great success stories. And while not everything has run to plan thus far – Russia 2018 qualifying, for example, kicked off with a goalless draw at home to Singapore – Yoshida is in no doubt that change was essential.
“The World Cup and Asian Cup brought a lot of disappointment to everyone, and I think we’re still recovering from that,” the Southampton centre-half told FIFA.com. “But now we have a new manager with a new style, and it’s a challenge for everyone to respond in the right way. The manager is trying to change many things and that is tough because change never comes easy. But I think it’s clear we needed to do something.”
Changing times
Ready and willing to embrace change, Yoshida was nonetheless taken aback by the extent of Halilhodzic’s obsession with off-field order and discipline. Time, though, seems to have brought a softening of that uncompromising early approach, and revealed a more amenable side to this seemingly belligerent Bosnian.
“He’s very, very strict,” Yoshida said with a laugh, having been asked to explain Halilhodzic’s style. “But although he can seem like a difficult character, any time I’ve spoken to him one-to-one I’ve found him to be a very open person. He’s someone you can speak to frankly. It’s been a big change for everyone because training is very hard and afterwards there are always very long team meetings. But that can happen with a new manager – it takes time for everyone to get used to how best to work together.
“I can see already things are changing a little too. The first time we met up, for example, he was really strict. And maybe that was the best way to work with his previous teams. But with Japanese players, discipline isn’t a problem or something you really need to worry about. It’s more on the football side of things that we need to focus.
“In that respect, he wants to play a very modern football style: very quick transitions, extremely compact and playing with intensity. Kick-and-rush is no good for Japan; we need to play quickly. The important thing, of course, is to use our strengths – technique, mobility, speed – and find the right balance.”
The attributes to which Yoshida refers have long been Japanese specialities, and have tended to produce a particular brand of player. Think of the Samurai Blue stars who have made their mark on Europe, after all, and it is names like Nakata, Nakamura, Honda and Kagawa – all midfield creators – that come to the fore.
As for Yoshida - a Japanese central defender operating at the top level - he is not so much the exception as an endangered species. And that, he admits, is a problem.
"He wants to play a very modern football style: very quick transitions, extremely compact and playing with intensity. Kick-and-rush is no good for Japan."
Yoshida on Vahid Halilhodzic
“I’m the only Japanese centre-back playing in Europe at the moment,” said the 27-year-old. “It’s the same with goalkeepers – we had only one (Eiji Kawashima), but now he doesn’t have a club. For the national team, that’s not a good situation because we need players from all positions playing at the highest level. We could definitely do with more goalkeepers, centre-backs and strikers playing over here. That’s not easy, but hopefully I can help open the door a little by showing that it’s possible.
“Although Japanese players have strengths, the weaknesses tend to be strength, physique and sometimes tactical awareness too. That’s why I think we tend to produce players in certain positions and not in others. And in certain respects, there’s not too much we can do about that – we can’t change our height or body shape, for example. But where we can change is the way we approach and play football, and it’s important we produce a good mix of players if we’re going to progress.”
In stressing the importance of establishing equilibrium and finding the right blend, Yoshida speaks from successful experience. He is, after all, part of an impressive, well-balanced Southampton team that has defied the odds by becoming a near-fixture in the upper reaches of the English Premier League. That they have done so despite making an annual habit of losing their top players to more glamorous rivals makes that achievement all the more impressive.
“It’s not easy to lose two or three of your best players every season and stay at the same, high level,” Yoshida acknowledged. “But although Southampton is not a huge club, it is run very well and the academy system is fantastic. That gives us a big foundation to build on. If we can keep the manager and maybe hold on to our best players going forward, I think we can do some really great things.
“It’s a club I definitely love being a part of. This is my fourth season at Southampton and I’m really used to the culture and way of life here in England. I also feel I really understand what is needed on the pitch and what the gaffer (Ronald Koeman) wants from me. Playing in the Eredivisie for three seasons (with VVV Venlo) before coming here helped a lot, I think, because I understand Dutch people and the Dutch mentality. And, as a trainer, Koeman is very typically Dutch.
“Without those years in Holland, it would have been tough. I think it would definitely have been very difficult to move directly from Japan to England because the culture is not only completely different, but you’re coming into the highest and most intense level of football there is. The level in the Dutch league is not the same, but you still have many talented young players there, and clubs understand that these players – especially from outside Europe – need time to adjust and improve. I definitely benefited a lot from that.”
Southampton and Japan, too, have reaped the rewards. With the mature and well-rounded Yoshida growing in stature with every passing year, the hope will be that club and country can follow suit.