On Wednesday 17 July local time, the U-23 Japan National Team played an international friendly match against the host nation of the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (Paris 2024) and one of the favourites to win the tournament, the U-23 France National Team, at Stade Mayol in Toulon, France.

Japan started in a 4-3-3 formation with KOKUBO Leo Brian (Sint-Truidense VV) in goal and a back line consisting of SEKINE Hiroki (Kashiwa Reysol), TAKAI Kota (Kawasaki Frontale), KIMURA Seiji (Sagan Tosu) and HANDA Riku (Gamba Osaka). FUJITA Joel Chima (Sint-Truidense VV) anchored the midfield, while YAMAMOTO Rihito (Sint-Truidense VV) and MITO Shunsuke (Sparta Rotterdam) were the two central midfielders. HIRAKAWA Yu (Bristol City) and SAITO Koki (Lommel SK) were deployed on the flanks, while FUJIO Shota (FC Machida Zelvia) played as a central striker.

Having only assembled their full squad the day before the match, Japan's fitness was a cause for concern, and they found themselves under heavy pressure from their opponents in the early stages of the game. They were unable to complete passes from their own half and struggled to move the ball forward.

In the 25th minute, however, Japan's pressure created a chance that was clinically converted. Fujio's fierce chase put the goalkeeper and defensive midfielder under pressure, allowing Mito to collect the loose ball and send a heel- pass into the box for Fujita, who calmly slotted the ball into the net to give Japan the lead with their first shot on target.

The home side drew level in the opening minutes of the second half when Alexandre LACAZETTE, one of three over-age players in the French squad, latched onto a long delivery and headed the ball into the path of Michael OLISE, who unleashed a superb left-footed shot from distance into the corner of the Japanese net.

With momentum and the home crowd behind them, France continued to create numerous close chances, but Japan's effective use of substitutes and some great saves from Kokubo kept the scores level at 1-1.

After the match, Japan head coach OIWA Go said: “This game gave us a valuable opportunity to condition our players and review our tactics.” He added: “We hope to prepare well for the tournament,” with Japan's first group-stage match against Paraguay scheduled for Wednesday 24 July.

Coach and Players' Comments

OIWA Go, Head Coach of U-23 Japan National Team
The fact that no one was injured was a positive outcome. After arriving in France in the middle of the night two days ago, I must praise the players for playing the whole game with such short preparation and lack of fitness. Our challenge, as you can see from this game, is how well we can execute our game plan against competitive opponents like today. We were able to play tenaciously in defence, but we needed to execute better in attack. Nevertheless, mentally and technically, the experience of playing on this pitch and in this climate was a positive one. We tend to focus too much on the negatives, including our current condition, but our goal is to get ready for our first game against Paraguay, so we hope to make the most of the time we have left to prepare.

GK #1 KOKUBO Leo Brian (Sint-Truidense VV/Belgium)
Although I wasn't at my best, I feel good that I was able to stay focused and put in a good performance. It was also good to see our team fighting and defending together when we were dominated by our opponents. (On the one-on-one he faced in the 82nd minute) It hit my knee. My ability to stop one-on-one situations is my strength and I am happy that I was able to show that. This was a game where we could have conceded several goals, so it gives us a lot of confidence that we held on as a team. But we still need to make fewer mistakes in midfield. If this had been one of our group games, we would have taken a point home, so it definitely gives us a boost going into our first game.

MF #8 FUJITA Joel Chima (Sint-Truidense VV/Belgium)
I think it's positive that we didn't lose, but in terms of our performance there were a lot of scenes where we needed to do more. I wish I could have controlled the game more and made more plays to threaten the opposition. Our backline was exploited by their through-balls, and we conceded far too many close chances in the first half. This game reminded us that we need to work on when to press and when to tighten up defensively. Scoring goals with few chances is one of the strengths of our team, so I was happy to score the first chance we had.

FW #9 FUJIO Shota (FC Machida Zelvia)
I think we could have won the game if we had played with more focus and intensity from the start, especially knowing how we scored the opening goal. The goal came from a short counter-attack that we had been working on in training, so I am happy that we were able to execute the play with intent. We hope to build on our possession football by trying to get the ball behind the opposition's backline and making better decisions about when to attack and when not to. We weren't at our best today, but I think we played well despite the bad conditions, so we'll do our best to prepare well for our game against Paraguay.

FW #17 HIRAKAWA Yu (Bristol City/England)
No matter how the game turned out, we went into it with the intention of staying on the same page, as it was our last game before the Olympics. As expected, there were many periods where we were unable to play our usual brand of football against a very talented French side, but we kept on talking to each other and learnt where we needed to improve ahead of the tournament. It certainly wasn't our best performance as a team, but the fact that we managed to get a point against France gives us a lot of confidence going into the Olympics.

International Friendly Match

Fixture: U-23 Japan National Team vs U-23 France National Team
Date: Wed. 17 July 2024, 21:05 (Thu. 18 July, 4:05 Japan time)
Venue: Stade Mayol (Toulon, France)
Tournament information

JFA OFFICIAL
TOP PARTNER

JFA OFFICIAL
SUPPLIER

JFA MAJOR PARTNER

JFA NATIONAL TEAM PARTNER