The Japanese women's soccer team's appearance was like a bomb thrown into the arena. With the second place in their group, they made their way through the tournament, but could not escape the fateful showdown with the Olympic gold medalists, the U.S. Women's Soccer Team. In this matchup, the U.S. women's soccer team showed overwhelming strength, with 71% of the ball in their possession, forcing the Japanese players to elevate their defense to the top of the list. Even though the Japanese women were tied at 0-0 in regulation time, they were saddened by a collapse in overtime. In the end, the U.S. women's soccer team defeated Japan by a score of 1-0, and after the Japanese men's soccer team, the Japanese women's soccer team also left the field in dismay!
Japan's men's and women's soccer teams are both out of the tournament, and fans can't help but recall the sharp comments once made by soccer commentator Dong Lu. In a live program, Dong Lu had bluntly said that due to the lack of physical talent, the development of Japanese soccer has come to an end and it is difficult to achieve greater breakthroughs. Although the Japanese team may be able to compete with the top teams in Europe and the United States at the technical and tactical levels, the Japanese team is obviously not capable of physical confrontation, which is the essence of soccer. Soccer, after all, is a confrontational sport. If the Japanese team can not make a breakthrough in the confrontation, its performance is naturally difficult to leap.
Nowadays, Japanese soccer seems to be caught in a new bottleneck, just as Dong Lu said. Whether they can break this deadlock depends on whether the Japanese soccer world can find a breakthrough!
