Japan's players lament Aguirre's exit

Players of japanese quality would have deserved a coach like that longer. The great success he had with them proves that was a great partnership.

A bit picky I know, but I'd hardly say they are 'lamenting' his exit.

They are the stock answers I'd expect any team player to give when asked about a departed coach.

Ask them what they think about the JFA's coaching appointment decisions over the last 15 years. 7 coaches of 6 different nationalities and 6 different languages I think.

If you have an impression of malfeasance or wrongdoing, then you cannot continue in a position of trust.

That's all good, but in my view there's almost no way that Aguirre and the rest of Zaragoza are innocent in this scandal. There's no smoke without fire and the La Liga is almost at Serie A levels of corruption, so am actually surprised this is the only team being brought up.

Ask them what they think about the JFA's coaching appointment decisions over the last 15 years. 7 coaches of 6 different nationalities and 6 different languages I think.

Completely irrelevant. There is only one coach at a time, so whoever came before or will come after is of no consequence. Knowledge and ability is what counts, not language or nationality. The players are not expected to learn Spanish, Italian or any other language, while being exposed to knowledge, styles of play and training methods from around the world can only help.

@theeastisred - Sorry but I disagree. Exposure to knowledge and training methods can help yes, but the players get this day-in-day-out at their clubs.

Successful national teams tend to have an identity and a style of play that is fairly consistent. I can't think of another country that aspires to be in the top 20 in the world that has had 7 coaches of 6 different nationalities and languages in the last 15 years.

National team coaches don't have the time to 'coach' during the short and infrequent time they get with the group of players. Trying to install a brand new playing philosophy through translators (who are also different each time and don't know the players) every 2-3 years is ludicrous.

Also, how do the national U21s and U18s play? Do they also change philosophy? If not, how are they expected to move up into the senior team during those 3 years - most young players play in Japan and aren't familiar with the national team's 'foreign' style of play. If they do change, it's clearly detrimental to change again 2 years later as those years - key to the development of the younger players - has been a total waste of time.

The JFA needs a plan. It's OK going for high profile foreign coaches as long as the coaches they get in all play the same style of football. Troussier, Zico, Osim, Okada, Zaccheroni, and Aguirre all have very different approaches to the game. There is no logical plan of appointing these managers one after the other - and then firing them after 3 years.

*Hara was the 7th and ironically would have been a decent choice of continuing on after Okada. He'd been technical director during Okada's time as coach, he'd worked with the younger upcoming players, he was made interim coach when Okada left and won 2 out of 2. As a coach he went to study in Spain and implemented a Spanish mentality at Urawa and FC Tokyo for 15+ years as a coach...and then the JFA went and appointed Zaccheroni a defensive minded Italian with a style very much removed from the Spanish way of playing. OK...so why have Hara as the technical director with his Spanish influences working with younger players for the 2 years prior to that?

There is no logical plan, and the Japanese national team will not have any meaningful success until there is.

@HollisBrown

You've obviously put a lot of thought into this. I agree changing managers frequently is always a problem, and that there are practical difficulties of relying on language interpreters (though the latter are not insurmountable). But I think it is more the frequency of change that is the problem rather than the fact that different nationalities were involved. I will exclude Zico from this discussion as he was never a coach and only hired as a vanity project by Kawabuchi.

Well, I asked somewhat sarcastically where these guys were yesterday when it was announced the JFL decided to can Aguirre, and here they are stressing their support, so my hat's off to them. The JFA is wrong in letting him go like this, in that it's not a good idea, money-wise or otherwise, to change so frequently. They either should have looked into his background better in the first place and not hired him, or stuck with him and gave a chance for his strategies to take effect. Seems the players liked him, and that's one of the most important things.

Oh well. Maybe the JFL will think a little more next time.

@theeastisred - I don't disagree with that!

As long as a manager is succeeded by another manager who plays the game in a similar way then nationality and language isn't a huge issue. The JFA needs to decide how they want Japan to play football, and then select a coaching team who can implement those principles throughout the age groups.

Without a continuity plan in place, there is no hope of sustained success.

Hara is still Technical Director as far as I know. With his Spanish coaching education and playing philosophy, the JFA must appoint someone who shares that approach to the game - so I'll expect the next coach to have coached in La Liga, or South America.

Or as a left-field choice then someone like Kazu - supported by coaches who have a Spanish / South American outlook on the game. Kazu actually started his career playing in Brazil, so he might very well be the perfect fit for the next 10 years.

Surely he has also been judged on his results. After the World Cup disappointment I think everyone was expecting Japan to at least get to the semi-finals of the Asian Cup considering they were defending champions, but they were knocked out in the quarters by the UAE! I reckon that if Japan had won the tournament or maybe even if they had just reached the final he might have stayed. I think they were looking for an excuse to sack him anyway.

Amazing.... Japan Soccer's problem is not the coach, it is the mediocre quality of the players. Except for rare exceptions they are going down the ladder from the league in one country to another. Honda has arrived where he belongs, Kagawa plays for the bottom team of the Bundesliga and cannot even make that team...

The team, not the coach, got beaten by the UAE. Or do you have any reason to tell us, that Aguirre made the decisive mistake, that lost that game?

That may be true Volland, but you can't fire the players now can you? The coach is the one that rightly or wrongly takes the flak for poor results. I agree that the players didn't live up to their rather over-inflated reputations, but like it or not always the first one to go when the results turn sour is the manager.

Cowboy... It is not that what you write is not the truth about a stupid habit, my point it that it is the the one thing that improves absolutely nothing. As others have already written, replacing one mediocre has-been coach with the next one, cannot wor..

Even I am aware of the one great coach the japanese have, the one who made the women's team play soccer that was equal to the best that is played in Europe and made them world champions. And he even speaks the language... Give him a long term contract and make him work with the local players and forget the hyped ones, like Honda or Kagawa

With all due respect I find it hard to say he was a great coach due to the short time at that position. I do believe that given time he would had been as it seemed he watched the players and was beginning to get alot of the egos under control. It is my opinion and only my opinion that Japanese international players are living off what they accomplish overseas. The local players selected shows a hunger and the willing to sacrifice their egos for the team. This is a winning solution for any team. As for Honda, he has truly became a prima donna and I believe more harm to the team than good. He is ready and eager to criticize other payers and the refs and says nothing when he fails to deliver. Penalty kick???

It's time for Japan's team to get a Japanese coach