Olympic boss Moriyasu appointed as Japan national football coach

Good to see Japan finally calling the game by its REAL, as well as OFFICIAL name:

FOOTBALL!!!!

Time to start teaching Japanese kids they're playing football.

Not this sucker bull.

This is a good appointment.

Since 1998, Japan has had 8 different national team coaches of 6 different nationalities and 6 different languages. Arguably the 2 most successful coaches during this time have been Okada and Nishino - the only 2 Japanese coaches.

It seems the JFA has finally understood that communication with players, and the coach's overall knowledge of the Japanese players and system, is better than employing a token foreign coach.

Moriyasu has a great chance to develop a young, exciting Japanese squad ready for the next World Cup.

Superb choice! Moriyasu-san will build on the amazing success of Nishino-san who schocked the world with Samurai Blue in Russia. They are a very young exciting team, and on the rise. Win the Asia Cup, next step. Omedettoh!! Ganbate !!Moriyasu San!!

They are a very young exciting team, and on the rise

Who is on the rise? The team that did well at the World Cup was ageing. Kawaahima, Yoshida, Nagatomo, Inui and Kagawa are past their best and Hasebe and Honda have retired.

Moriyasu has a rebuilding job on his hands. Good luck to him and he certainly doesn’t need the usual pressure from people who watch football every other year or so.

If you’re the coach for almost three years and then some upstart jumps in and “coaches” for the final game and wins, who wins? The original coach - who worked hard for almost three years - or the upstart who snuck in at the last minute?

Japan have had mixed results under foreign coaches since Dutchman Hans Ooft became the country's first non-Japanese boss in 1992.

How were the results under Japanese coaches in the past? Forget the last World Cup because we can’t give someone credit for stepping in at the last moment as borscht mentioned in the comment above ( Actually, come to think of it the coach seemed out of ideas against Poland and when Belgium started a comeback so it’s terrible coaching skills ).

Even the Japanese coaches in the past have had terrible results with the national team so it’s not really fair to write articles based on blaming a foreign coach!

Troussier did a decent job as Japan manager.

Moriyadu lacks totally international experience. No way to reach excellence for a team with players who should have too international experience. The ganbare attitude among Japanese will not be enough.

I still wish him good luck in his management.

Since 1998, Japan has had 8 different national team coaches of 6 different nationalities and 6 different languages. Arguably the 2 most successful coaches during this time have been Okada and Nishino - the only 2 Japanese coaches.

Oi oi, don't forge the Italian guy, he was a decent coach too.

If you’re the coach for almost three years and then some upstart jumps in and “coaches” for the final game and wins, who wins? The original coach - who worked hard for almost three years - or the upstart who snuck in at the last minute?

This.

If you’re the coach for almost three years and then some upstart jumps in and “coaches” for the final game and wins, who wins? The original coach - who worked hard for almost three years - or the upstart who snuck in at the last minute?

Both, in my opinion. The 2 have completely different styles, and anyone that watches would know that the Japan under Nishino was more like the Japan they are used to seeing. So you can't say Japan would have done well with the original coach. But he may have added to their chances.

Since 1998, Japan has had 8 different national team coaches of 6 different nationalities and 6 different languages. Arguably the 2 most successful coaches during this time have been Okada and Nishino - the only 2 Japanese coaches.

True, but both Okada (2nd time) and Nishino took over from a foreign coach. So having both experiences may have helped the players. Also, both those World Cup performances came after losing in the Asian Cup, while Japan performed poorly when they won the Asian Cup under the two Z guys. Perhaps it gives a false sense of security. Nakata commented after 2006 that Japan had a lot of problems that were exposed at the World Cup.