On July 28, Japan's national Olympics defeated Mali's national Olympics by a score of 1-0 in a fierce battle, winning two consecutive matches and advancing to the early round. In response, Soccer Daily posted an article praising the extraordinary strength of this Japanese national Olympic team, which has no overage players.
For the third time in a row, an Asian team has advanced from the men's soccer group stage at the Olympics, following Japan from 1964 to 1968; it is also the second time an Asian team has advanced from the early rounds of the Olympics since South Korea at London 2012. Japan's national Olympic team advanced out of the men's soccer group stage for the sixth time in 12 appearances in the Olympic final round, remaining ahead of South Korea's four, which holds the record for the most number of times an Asian team has advanced out of the men's soccer group stage at the Olympics.
As the only team in the Paris Olympics without an overage player, the Japanese national Olympic team has 10 players who meet the U23 age standard can not participate in the competition, including Asia's most expensive Kubo Jianying, the adult national team's main goalkeeper Suzuki Choyan, the former adult team striker Suzuki Weiren, as well as the upcoming to join the English Premier League Southampton's Josiah Matsumaki, and so on. Such a lineup makes the Japanese national Olympic team can only be regarded as the "second team of the national Olympic team".
However, the "National Olympic Team 2", which has seven players playing in Europe, has achieved the same excellent results as in Tokyo three years ago, based on the U23 Asian Cup winning team. Coach Tsuyoshi Oiwa's National Olympic team started the season with a winning streak, scoring six goals and shutting out their opponents. In their opening match against Paraguay, they won 5-0 to record Japan's biggest victory in the history of Olympic men's soccer.
The Japanese national Olympic team, who are early locks, will likely meet Egypt, the second-ranked team in Group C, in the quarterfinals. Looking back to the 2012 Olympics, the Japanese team had defeated Egypt in the quarterfinals to advance to the quarterfinals. Therefore, the Japanese media is full of expectations for a repeat of the history of the London Olympics to compete for medals. Since last year, the Japanese men's soccer team has achieved similar success with the U23 age group after winning the U17 Asian Cup and making it out of the group in the U17 World Cup. Although the U19 age group is slightly less impressive, they reached the quarterfinals of the U20 Asian Cup and participated in the U20 World Youth Championship. In the last three U17 World Cups, U20 World Cups and U23 Olympics, Japan has participated in nine tournaments and failed to qualify from the group on only two occasions, showing the steady results of school soccer and club youth training, which still rank among the top in Asia.
There are four mixed-race players in the Japanese National Olympic team, including midfield captain Jean Ruko Fujita and goalkeeper Reio Ogikubo. Ogikubo successfully saved a penalty kick in the second half against the Malian national Olympics, helping the team to keep a clean sheet and advance in the tournament. Four of the team's six goals were scored by the stay-at-home players, with Ruko Fujita also providing an assist to her teammate who scored twice. The main players of this group of Japanese national Olympic team mainly play in the middle and lower reaches of the Dutch and Belgian League, showing the current situation of Japan's large number of players staying in the world and the quality of the current situation.
