Japanese media predicts Japan's starting lineup: Takumi Minamino is the best candidate for attacking midfielder, Junya Ito returns

At 18:35 on the evening of September 5th, Beijing time, in the first round of the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup, the Chinese national football team will challenge the Japanese team as a guest. Japanese media gave their predicted starting lineup for the Japanese team.

The original text is as follows:

After suffering a painful defeat against Oman in the first qualifying match, Japan coach Moriyasu Ichi is expected to send a solid lineup in the match against China. He tried various formations such as 4-1-4-1 (4-3-3), 3-4-2-1 and five defenders with solid defense in the 9 games in 2024, but it is worth looking forward to whether he will return to the basic 4-2-3-1 formation in the match against China.

Junya Ito returned after seven months. The return of this striker who participated in more than half of the team's goals in the Qatar World Cup will undoubtedly help the team's offense.

If the game starts with a 4-2-3-1 formation, the focus is on the selection of the attacking midfielder. At present, it seems that Kaoru Mitoma and Junya Ito are bound to be the starting candidates on the wing. Therefore, players who can cooperate with them smoothly and bring out the strengths of both will be the best choice.

From the 9 games so far, Takumi Minamino has played the most in the attacking midfielder position. Takefusa Kubo and Ritsu Doan also have experience playing in this position. However, when Kubo starts, he mainly plays in the middle of the midfield in the 4-3-3 formation. Ritsu Doan also mainly plays as a right winger or right wingback, and the attacking midfielder position is an unconventional choice.

Daichi Kamada was one of the two attacking midfielders in the 3-4-2-1 formation in the June series, but he has not played in the attacking midfielder position recently. Considering this situation, it can be said that Takumi Minamino is the strongest candidate in the sense of a pure attacking midfielder.

In fact, Takumi Minamino is the player closest to a striker compared to the other three. He also performed well as a shadow striker in Monaco. If it is believed that in the match against the Chinese team, the two wings can tear open the opponent's defense and pass the ball, and Ueda Yushiro and Minamino Takumi can rush into the penalty area to create many scoring opportunities, then this combination can be regarded as the best solution.