The international friendly match of Japan vs Turkey is underway at Cegeka Arena in Henk, Belgium.

Yesterday, Japanese national team announced that Ayase Ueda had left the team due to injury he suffered during the game against Germany. Ueda played from start in the game against Germany as first choice of CF in Moriyasu’s attack tactics and scored a goal.

Japan has three CF except for Ueda, one of whom is Takuma Asano, who played in 2nd half in the game against Germany. Therefore, there is a high possibility that both Kyogo and Daizen will be given the opportunity to play as CF in the game against Turkey. Moriyasu also said the following about the CF for the game against Turkey.

Moriyasu: “In the game against Turkey, I will give CF with different characteristics from Ueda a chance to play. I never take it negatively that characteristics are different, and I hope that each players will make full use of their own individuality.”

As Moriyasu said, Daizen and Kyogo will probably get a chance to play in the game against Turkey. In addition, Moriyasu talked about elements expected of the team in the game after looking back on the game against Germany as follows.

Moriyasu: “The friendly match against Turkey is very important game for us. In addition to doing our best to win against Turkey, I want more players to better understand concept of our team by develop fundamental strength of our team.

“I wants to change Starting Ⅺ for the game against Turkey from the game against Germany, but I will finally decide by looking at condition of our players in training. In the game against Germany, our players had great performance.

“Winning is our pride, and it definitely lead to our confidence, but no one on our team is always thinking of leveling up without being satisfied with current situation.

“This is not the goal, and we have to make more progress towards the next.” Also, I said to them, “Our goal is to win in World Cup, and let’s step up while being conscious of developing. Past victories do not promise the next victory, so what we have to do now is to do our best for what we can do. We are preparing well so that we can win the game against Turkey.”

In the training after the game against Germany, Kyogo talked about his enthusiasm for the game against Turkey as follows.

Kyogo: “FW needs to score goals, but I’m well ready to do it, and if I’m given the opportunity to play in the game against Turkey, I want to do my best so that I can help our team to score goals.

“I think I may play the role of receiving and holding the ball in the space in front of opponent’s defender and engage in building up, but in such a situation, I’ll play well while being conscious of bargaining against opponent and linking up with my teammates.

“And I have the impression that Turkey is a highly intensive and aggressive team. If we can dodge pressure from opponent well, I think we can make good attack while making good use of the space.I think our team can train while being aware of it, and I want to take advantage on opponent’s weak spot and catch opponent off guard.

“In the game against Germany, we were able to win with a great result because we were able to keep good link-up and intensity in offence and defence on the pitch for 90 minutes. That’s why we have to play without being distracted so that we can continue to do it in the next game.

“I understand that there are many other players who want to play. Of course, as FW, I want to be ace striker on this team, and want to show my emotion in the next game.”

That’s all. Japan positioned this friendly matches as important games for 2026 FIFA World Cup Asia Qualifier and AFC Asian Cup, which will start in November.

There is no doubt that Kyogo and Daizen, who were called up to the team this time, are important players for the team. In addition, Moriyasu said that he will also pay close attention to players’ performance in UCL, so there will be a chance for Reo Hatate, who was not called up to the team due to injury this time.

Also, through training and games in the team this time, players and manager talked about positive effects of the excellent analyst who have joined the team.

As far as I can see, I recognize that Moriyasu is manager who can help improve players’ thinking, leadership, and motivation, and know-how to analyse data and videos about opponents and performance brought to the team by new analyst is an important element of logically approaching players’ skills and team tactics, which definitely complements the role of Moriyasu and coaches.

I’m sure that this will promote development of players, improvement of confidence, and improvement of performance. From this point of view, I think that for Celtic’s Japanese bhoys’ experience in the national team is meaningful to have positive impacts on their performance at Celtic. Then, let’s enjoy watching the match of Japan vs Turkey.

Here is the Japan team featuring Celtic striker Kyogo, that is playing Turkey at the moment….