Japanese student soccer team shocks Europe

The world of football was stunned to witness the tour of the Japan University FA representative team, which took place in Italy for over a week.

Japanese student team in the match against Fiorentina - Photo: JUTA

The Japanese student team's tour ended last weekend. Two goals by Tsuneto Kanade and Ikegaya Ginjiro helped them come from behind to beat Fiorentina 2-1.

Fiorentina is a strong team in Serie A. And they also put out almost their best lineup when welcoming the Japanese student team. Including superstar goalkeeper David De Gea in goal and attacking stars Gosens, Dzeko up front.

After this match, Fiorentina's newspapers and forums also devoted much analysis to the team's tactics, and looked at the team's weaknesses... No one thought that Fiorentina lost the match because they were subjective. Everyone had the utmost respect for the Japanese student team.

During the two-week journey, the Japanese student team played five friendly matches with a record of two wins, two draws and one loss. Their matches were all against famous Italian teams.

They drew 1-1 with Genoa on 5 August. Drawn 1-1 with Cesena on 9 August. Lost 0-1 to Hellas Verona on 10 August. Won 4-1 with AC Milan U23 team on 13 August. Finally, they finished with a recent 2-1 win over Fiorentina.

This is not a team run by the Japan Football Association (JFA). Instead, the team is a university representative selected by the Japan University Football Association (JUFA). The team gathers U-23 players who are students to compete internationally every year.

The list of players participating in this tour includes 23 players from Japanese universities with a rich sports tradition such as Chuo, Tsukuba, Meiji, Waseda, Hosei, Ryutsu Keizai, Kansai, Kokushikan, Fukuoka...

Japanese student squad for tour in Italy - Photo: JUFA

On the other hand, 11/23 players on the list have been added to the roster of many J.League clubs from next season.

Notable names include goalkeeper Sato Ryusei (Urawa Reds Club), midfielder Yamaichi Shuto (Kawasaki Frontale), midfielder Shimano Rei (Kashiwa Reysol), striker Mochiyama Kyōsuke (Kawasaki Frontale)...

The Japanese are extremely famous for their school sports culture. Among them, soccer is the most notable highlight. Many of the current Japanese national team superstars, such as Kaoru Mitoma, came from school soccer and were also part of this student team.

Mitoma is famous for choosing to go to university instead of signing a professional contract early. The Brighton star has thus inspired a generation of juniors.

The recent tour of Italy once again confirmed the quality of Japanese youth football. With a team consisting of more than half students who have never played professionally, they can still give big-name European teams headaches.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/doi-bong-sinh-vien-nhat-ban-gay-chan-dong-chau-au-20250819092105426.htm