Keisuke Honda said his country had a blueprint for the future despite being knocked out of the World Cup in painful fashion by Belgium on Monday.
Akira Nishino's side had been 2-0 up in Rostov-on-Don thanks to goals from Genki Haraguchi and Takashi Inui, and was seemingly headed for the quarterfinals for the first time in its history. But Belgium fought back and completed the turnaround with a 94th-minute winner from substitute Nacer Chadli to go through instead to a last-eight tie against Brazil.
Once again the Japanese fail to win a World Cup knockout tie, after previous defeats at this stage as co-hosts in 2002, and in 2010.
Rapid strides
But Honda, one of the great Japan players of his generation who is now 32, said this defeat should not be compared with that on penalties against Paraguay at the same stage in South Africa eight years ago. “That time, our team were more than 90 percent playing in Japan, and just three or four playing in Europe,” said Honda, who came off the bench late on against Belgium.
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“We played just long ball and we couldn't keep the ball, we couldn't make chances like today, so we can't compare. Today we showed how we proceed as Japanese football.”
Honda, though, indicated that he is likely to call time on his own international career despite closing in on 100 caps. “I might finish my career for the national team, but I am happy because many young players are following us and I think that they will make new history for Japanese football,” said the former CSKA Moscow and AC Milan man, now playing in Mexico.
‘A message’ to Europeans
The majority of the squad brought to Russia by coach Nishino is based in Europe, and Honda hopes clubs from the continent will look even more closely to the J League in future. “We learned a lot from Spanish soccer, we don't have the physicality, but we also have technique, we have good midfielders,” said Honda, who scored in the 2-2 draw with Senegal in the group stage.
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“The Japanese league also has a lot of these qualities, so they can play in Spain or Germany. Maybe we gave the European crowds a message that they should bring more Japanese players, not even national players. I hope they will now take a lot of new talents.”
Habit needed
The Samurai Blue's next assignment will be at the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates early next year. However, defender Maya Yoshida admitted that his side also needs to look to future World Cups and aim to finally make it to a quarterfinal. “In terms of our development, and for our improvement, we need to go through the round of 16 constantly,” said the Southampton stalwart.
“Then maybe 10 or 20 years later it will be normal for us.”
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