December 6, although the Japanese team in the Qatar World Cup 1/8 finals lost 2-4 to the last runner-up Croatia, the fourth fell to the threshold of the top eight, but their performance in this Cup shocked the world soccer. After the game, Beijing Youth Daily commented that the Japanese soccer "100-year plan" is not empty words.
Since the professional reforms of the 1990s, the Japanese men's soccer team has won four Asian Cup titles, and such an impressive record is a perfect reflection of what they have accumulated, from decades of unchanged soccer programs, from down-to-earth grassroots soccer training, and from the tireless efforts of the leaders of the Japan Soccer Association (JSA) and coaches at all levels. There are good reasons for the success of Japanese soccer.
When it comes to the accumulation of Japanese soccer and the grassroots training of young players, we must mention the Japanese Soccer High School League, which is deeply admired by many fans around the world. This centuries-old tournament, which has been held annually since 1917, has held 101 tournaments, except for five interruptions due to war. Since the beginning of the professionalization of Japanese soccer, stars from the National High School League include Junior Ono, Kato Nagaho, Masashi Nakayama, Naru Hasebe, King Do-Rei Tanaka, Hitoshi Uchida, Pauline Endo, Chirashi Miura, Cautious Okazaki, and Tomoyo Nagayo ...... This long list can be called the all-star lineup of Japanese soccer.
Over the past 100 years, the Japanese High School Football League has developed into a fixture of 48 teams at the final stage. There are 47 administrative districts in Japan, with 2 finals in Tokyo and 1 team from the remaining 46 prefectures getting access to the national finals, with all finals quotas coming from local preliminaries, and all preliminaries teams being high school teams totaling over 4,000, with no less than 100,000 high school soccer players each year, and even more students unable to make it to their school teams. Why are there so many Japanese internationals and even Asian stars in this league? Simply put, the mass base is so strong that the National High School Soccer League has a strong talent education function, and it is a truth in sports that quality comes from quantity. In the 2016 National High School Soccer League final, the crowd reached 54,000, more than many national professional soccer tournaments attract.
The high school league has created a well-established system that provides a good foundation for the emergence of Japanese soccer talent. The best players can sign contracts with professional teams, or even go straight to the reserve teams of European clubs, or go on to universities to continue their soccer dreams as they study and train. In short, the Japanese high school soccer league is like a blood bank, nurturing new soccer seedlings and a steady output day in and day out, which is not only the only way for soccer youth to grow, but also the hope of countless parents and fans. Combined with Japan's 7 entry into the World Cup, 4 into the round of 16, you can break up with the world's strongest teams, the Japanese soccer "100-year plan", "dream declaration" proved that this is not empty words. Relying on a strong foundation of youth soccer, the vitality of Japanese soccer is fully guaranteed.
