BOTHROYD Japans mindset not talent will

Since coming back to England, I always get asked the question: Whats the standard like in Japan?I always say the same thing: Its fantastic, these players are technicians. They can keep the ball against anyone. But the problem is the Japanese national team has always lacked belief. Theyre just happy to turn up and be there. Thats what frustrated me in my time in the country.I want to see Japan do really well at this World Cup, and beyond. I spent six years of my life there, so I would love to see these players that I played with and against go and do things that would make me proud of them.MORE: In the J. League, it sometimes felt to me that losing a game was acceptable, because theres always Jerome Brown Jersey another one next week. Thats a mindset I dont like, and I think a lot of the players have it. But its not just football, its a cultural thing.In Japan, you have the culture of the salaryman, who gets a job after graduating and becomes comfortable staying with the same company their whole career. Thats an entirely different end of the spectrum to a footballer, but the mindset is the same. Youll protect something rather than go at something.There was an element of that in the dramatic 3-2 defeat to Belgium in Shaun Bradley Jersey the 2018 World Cup. At 2-0 up, Japan should have just kept playing the same way they were. They tried to protect their lead, and you cant do that against those sorts of nations like Belgium.Qualification for the World Cup is easy for Japan the teams they are qualifying against arent good enough; theyre nowhere near as good as Japanese players. The analogy that I would use is that you dont say congratulations for sending your son to school, he just goes to school. Youre getting excited about Michael Vick Jersey something when you should be doing it anyway.Despite how tough their group is in Qatar, with European heavyweights Spain and Germany included in there, Japan can progre s in this tournament. Theyve got the quality, with Takefusa Kubo, Kaoru Mitoma, Takumi Minamino and Daichi Kamada. They can go and do it. They need the manager, Hajime Moriyasu, to encourage it.MORE: Look at the Dutch team at this World Cup the Netherlands have a better history, but in terms of man-for-man talent, Japan are very similar. I need to see them go into that first game against Germany with no fear.If were being honest, the defence is the weakest part of the Japanese national team, but Takehiro Tomiyasu is a fantastic player. I watch him all the time for Arsenal and hes a really, really good defender. Hes very consistent, strong and good going forward. He can play right-back and left-back, as well as at centre-back in a three.Tomiyasu is the player I would look towards to educate the rest of the defenders. I want to see him controlling that line, because hes the best Japan has. If they play with a back four, you probably want one of the full-backs tucking in, which is something Tomiyasu is used to doing at Arsenal.Then Id say to the attackers, Go and play, go and affect the game, go and show us what youre all about.Mitoma is having a great season in the Premier League and Kamada has Marcus Epps Jersey been fantastic in the Bundesliga. Go and show me in the national team now what you can do, Rodney McLeod Jersey because theres no bigger stage than the World Cup.Group E is probably the hardest of any in the tournament; Germany, Spain and Costa Rica are all respected nations. In the opening match, Germany could dominate Japan physically, but you cant say the same about Spain. Compared to Costa Rica, player-for-player, Japan are better, and the manager should be targeting them in the second game.LIVE SCORES: If you get four points in your group, youre probably going to go through. Thats the target Moriyasu needs to set, and he has consistently said that Japan should be aiming to reach the quarterfinals at least.You need to show ambition by saying, "This is what we expect, and anything le s than this is a failure".