Japanese netizens responded that they could not understand the evaluation that Korea was the strongest in the Asian Cup.
Global media “Eurosport” on Wednesday predicted the best 11 players for the 2023 Asian Cup of Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Five Japanese players, four from Korea, one from Australia and one from Iran were on the list. Korea was Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Lee Kang-in (PSG), and Kim Jin-soo (Jeonbuk Hyundai). They were Kaoru Mitoma (Japan), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad), Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Asnall), and Ko Itakura (Mönchengladbach). Mehdi Taremi (Porto) from Iran and Matthew Ryan (Copenhagen) from Australia were picked.
Eurosport commented, “Japan is the strongest candidate to win the Asian Cup. Korea, Australia, and Iran are also strong, but they are overwhelmed in terms of position competitiveness.”
However, AFC named Korea, which is full of star players, as the strongest team in the Asian Cup. “Korea has the best star players in Europe, Son Heung-min and Kim Min-jae,” AFC said, predicting that Korea has the highest probability of winning the title. “Japan, Australia, and Qatar are also among the candidates for the championship, but they have the best squads. We will upgrade the level of the Asian Cup to the next level.” 마카오토토
Japan’s “Nikkan Sports” showed interest in the evaluation. “Eurosport said Japan would win the title, but AFC picked Korea as the strongest candidate to win the title,” the media said.
Japanese Internet users claimed that Japan is superior to Korea in terms of power capability. One netizen said, “Why is the AFC saying that Korea is the strongest? There are no notable players except for the four players who are always mentioned (Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, Lee Kang-in, and Hwang Hee-chan). “Even if we look at Japan’s power in an objective manner without self-interest, Japan is definitely better than Korea,” he said. “Strangely, Australia and other Middle Eastern countries are unlikely to be weaker than Korea either.”
Another netizen said, “The striker agrees with the opinion that Korea is better, but Japan is definitely superior in the rest of the wings, midfielders and fullbacks. In fact, Japan is better as a center back except for Kim Min-jae,” adding, “Japan really doesn’t have a ‘hole’ than any other tournament so far.”
