On July 25, 2024, the group stage of the men's football event at the Paris Olympics ushered in a key event. The Japan men's football team played against the former Olympic silver medallist Paraguay men's football team. Paraguay's men's football team has a number of players in Europe, and its strength should not be underestimated. On the other hand, there is no player over the age of 23 in the entire Japan team, and it does not feel like Paraguay's opponent. However, the progress of the game greatly exceeded the expectations of the audience, with Japan beating Paraguay 5-0, and the performance of rising star Mitsuki Saito in the game was even more jaw-dropping.
Crossing a person is like crossing the street, and one person plays the Paraguay defense line.
In this match, the rising star Mitsuki Saito was perfect. Playing mainly on the left side of the game, he completed a number of sharp breakthroughs in this game, tearing apart the Paraguay defense constructed by the main force of the five major leagues. In particular, in the 62nd minute of the game, Mitsuki Saito, who took the ball on the left side, broke through Balbwena with a bulltail passing move and rubbed the ball in front of the goal, and his teammates in front of the goal successfully grabbed the point to expand the score and laid the victory for Japan.
Throughout the game, Mitsuki Saito contributed two assists and completed a number of breakthroughs to deliver threatening passes. The ability he has shown is even higher than that of Paraguay's players who play in the top five leagues. Such a staffing makes us both envious and worried.
At the age of 19, he is in the top five leagues, and his potential is amazing
Born in 2001, Mitsuyoshi Saito began to stay abroad in 2021 and was loaned to Sparta Rotterdam in the Eredivisie in 2022. Mitsuki Saito is a traditional "no backfoot" player, he is very skilled with his left and right feet, and can flexibly change his area of activity during the game, so that the opponent is unable to defend himself.
In the 2023 season, Mitsuki Saito made 22 appearances for Sparta Rotterdam, contributing three goals and five assists. It can be said that he has become an indispensable general in the formation. The head coach of Sparta Rotterdam praised Mitsuyoshi Saito's talent, and even compared him with Yamal, the hottest star in the European Championships.
With the emergence of many young stars, Japan football will usher in its heyday? Winning the World Cup may no longer be a slogan
In recent years, Japan has produced a large number of outstanding young stars and has become the tactical core of the major teams in the five major leagues. For example, Hisashi Hisashi, who has just joined the giant Liverpool, and the well-known three-goal king, and Junya Ito, a fast horse on the right side of Japan. And this is just one part of Japan's huge talent pool.
In this Olympics, Japan sent a pure U23 team, and there was not a single overage player in the team. It also shows the importance of their own youth development, and even the Under-23s have a number of players playing in Europe's top five leagues. Its strength is not inferior to any European powerhouse, on the other hand, the Chinese U23 team, many players can't even play in the Chinese Super League. In comparison, the gap between the football strength of China and Japan is probably unimaginable.
After the last World Cup, Japan head coach Mori Hoichi said more than once that Japan football has the strength to compete for the World Cup title, and it is likely to be in the next few tournaments. At first, everyone thought it was nonsense, but after seeing the performance of Japan's U23s, I believe everyone has to re-examine Japan football. Perhaps in the future, this Japan team will become the favorite to win the World Cup, and when Chinese football can reach this level is a problem we need to think about and solve.