In the late afternoon of January 26th, Beijing time, the Japanese national team held a press conference before the match. Facing the media, Japanese manager Mori Bao'ichi revealed that he only knew Li Xiaopeng as the Wuhan team's manager. Talking about the match against China, Mori emphasized that he would "improvise and avoid drastic changes to avoid imbalance in the players' mentality."
It is worth mentioning that this campaign, Japan's defense line stars Yoshida Maaya and Tomoyasu Kenyo will be absent, this situation has become the focus of discussion at the conference. Mori responded: "We are fully prepared, the new players will be in danger, they are ready to go, tomorrow will compete with the Chinese team. They are not replacing others, but to participate in the game and show their own characteristics."
Regarding the absence of Maya Yoshida and Kenyo Tomiyasu, Mori Baoichi said, "We deeply regret it, and the players themselves are the ones who suffer the most, so we hope they will recover soon and return to the field of play. But the absence does not mean that the national team is weakened, tomorrow we will work together to show the overall strength of the national team."
Maya Yoshida is not only the pillar of Japan's defense line, but also the team captain. Mori Baoichi revealed that tomorrow's match will be captained by Endo Hang: "He is experienced, good at communicating with his teammates, and in a position that makes it easy to observe the whole situation on the field. We have other experienced players to choose as captain, but from the point of view of experience and communication ability, he is undoubtedly the best choice."
Facing questions from the Chinese media, Mori Baoichi talked about what he knows about Li Xiaopeng: "I only know that he is currently coaching in Wuhan, as for how he starts the game as the national team head coach, we don't know very well."
