But there was still one thing to learn

The Japanese national soccer team led by Coach Hajime Moriyasu experienced the worst in the Qatar Asian Cup. Before the opening of the tournament, Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad) said, "The team that pays me is definitely Real Sociedad," expressing his discomfort. During the tournament, Junya Ito (Lance) left the team due to "sexual crime charges." The Japan Football Association was in a chaotic situation in the process of evicting Ito, sparking controversy over his administration. In addition, Moriyasu caused an uproar by making remarks showing lack of gender sensitivity. There was even a controversy over his leadership after the championship. Takehiro Tomiyasu (Asnal) said, "When a team is in a bad mood, we need to change the mood by voice or play. How many players want to change that?" Japanese reporters at the scene lamented, "There is no leadership like Son Heung-min in Japan. There is no comparison between Endo Wataru (Liverpool)." Until the opening, the Moriyasu Corporation had been voted as the top winner. The Japanese team had the best objective performance among the 24 participating countries. Japan was ranked 17th in the FIFA rankings as of December 2023. Among the 26 players on the final list, 20 were European players. They were highly praised as "de-Asian class." However, Japan finished its challenge in the quarterfinals amid various controversies. Japan failed to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in nine years after the 2015 Australia Championship. It was the runner-up at the 2019 United Arab Emirates. Japan was definitely the worst player at this year's event, but there was still one thing to learn. It is a system that fosters the future and prepares for "what ifs" the future. Japan had five young players in its training camp through April 23. It has one goalkeeper, two defenders, a midfielder, and one striker. According to local media reports in Japan, Masakuni Yamamoto, director of the Japanese national team, said, "The five training partners are selected from among the core players of the U-19 national team and trained together. He thought about the future of Japan. Some of the active players have also grown from training partners in the past." "We are not the first to be training partners in international competitions. Tomiyasu and Kubo participated as training partners in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia," said a Japanese reporter at the site. Korea felt the importance of a training partner at this year's event. Kim Seung-gyu (Al-Shabab) left the team last month due to injury, and urgently recruited Kim Jun-hong (Kim Cheon-moo) as a training partner. "We still have a long time left for the championship. Training is difficult with two goalkeepers. I called Kim Jun-hong as a training partner." Kim Jun-hong was also a member of the Korean national team until the end of the championship. He is known to have provided special assistance in penalty shootout drills. Training partners are a matter of willpower. However, awareness of training partners is very low in Korea. "I know that Japan fostered young players through the training partner system for a long time. However, it is not Korea. Professional baseball teams also have negative view on recruiting players. They perceive that it is meaningless if they cannot play for the national team. It is even worse because it is the winter camp training period," said an official from the team.