Japan win or lose in their inaugural Sultan Azlan Shah 2024 final tonight against three-time champions Pakistan in Ipoh, after six appearances in the 30 edition of the tournament, will return home a contended team.
The 36-year-old coach, Yoshihiro Anai, is himself surprised with his team’s performance to reach the final after remaining unbeaten in five of their pool matches (beat Canada 3-1, South Koreans 2-1, New Zealand 4-1, 1-1 draw against Pakistan and 2-1 win over Malaysia.
Japan’s best finish in the tournament was a fourth-place after going down 5-3 to the Pakistanis for the bronze medal in the 2022 edition.
“We came here to test and expose our mixed team of young and experienced players with the target to build this team for a outstanding performance when we host the Asian Games in Nagoya in two years time,” said Anai who took charge of then team only in April.
“I know this team has potential to go far and it was my aim to see them win the gold medal at the Asian Games,” said Anai who was the assistant coach of Japan at the Tokyo Olympics where they finished eleventh.
“But they have surprised me and themselves with their performance here, which augurs well for the confidence of the players and the progress of the team,” said Anai, a physical education teacher at the Tenri Univeristy in Osaka.
Against Pakistan, Anai said they have nothing to lose to the slick and well oiled Pakistan team.
“They are a much more experienced team than us and our earlier 1-1 draw against them, does not matter, because the final is a different ball game with the title at stake,” said Anai.
“Of course, we want to win to make this a memorable outing for us, but it is not going to be easy. We have to work very hard and have to plan a sound strategy to contain them and at the same time find the goals.”
Japan with their Samurai discipline and strategy which Anai said was their secret weapon, will continue to work for them.
The team has the services of 12 players who competed in the recent Olympics qualifying round in Spain, while five youngsters (between the ages of 18 and 20) are in the senior team for the first time.
Midfielder Manabu Yamashita, who is 35-year-old, is the most senior player in the squad with 217 caps, who was Anai’s teammate in the national team, leads the team together with the experience of Seren Tanaka (158 caps), Shota Yamada (145 caps), and Takashi Yoshikawa (145 caps). Raiki Fujishima, 24-year-year-old, is the captain the side with 54 caps.
Anai also has four of his students from Tenri University, which is a sports excellence university for hockey, baseball and judo. The four are Shota Yamada, Ken Nagayoshi, Tsubasa Tanaka and goalkeeper Yoshikawa who single handedly kept that Malaysian team team at bay in the last five minutes of the game when host had five consecutive penalty corners.
However, Anai uses both goalkeepers, the other being Takumi Kitagawana, each alternating in each quarter of the game.
Anai has three assistant coaches whom he had hand picked himself.
“We have a good team of players and coaches and we work together very effectively,” said Anai has 80 international caps and last played for his country in the London Olympics qualifiers.
“Hockey is a simple game but must be played with a high level of discipline in executing the strategy playing with determination, high spirit and work rate. And that is our Samurai trait.
“Also we must enjoy the game. That is why when we take on Pakistan tonight, we play with no pressure. We just want to go out there and enjoy the game and give our best shot.”
Anai said he has a squad of 32 players.
“I have brought here 18 players and we have another 18 players in Japan. This will be squad I will be working with towards the Nagoya Asian Games.”
Japan will not be competing in the 2023-2024 Men’s FIH Hockey Nations Cup in Poland (May 31-June 9) which is the second edition which serves as the qualification for the Men’s FIH Pro League. The teams competing here are Austria, Canada, France, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa and South Korea.
However, Japan will be competing in the Asian Champions Trophy in Mongolia (Sept 8 to 17) where the other teams are China, India, Korea, Malaysia and Pakistan.
Anai said his team will not be going for any playing tour in preparation for the Asian Games.
“We have already teams like China and Korea coming to play in Japan and hopefully we can get Malaysia to come play at the Asian Games venue,” revealed Anai.
“Maybe, we may want to play Malaysia in Malaysia and hopefully we can arrange that.”
Japan is indeed the rising team and they are heading in the right direction.
