Korean football legend Choi Tae-wook appeared on the personal YouTube channel of Lee Chun-soo, a member of the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, and analyzed Korean football coolly and did not hesitate to speak bitterly. Coach Choi, who contributed to the advancement of the Korean national team to the round of 16 by helping coach Paulo Bento at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, said, “It is a miracle that Korean soccer is following Japan.” I came out and I deeply sympathized with this part.

On the 4th and 5th, at Hanyang University Erika Campus, Japan Yutong University of Economics (Ryutsu Keizai University) and Hanyang University held a two-day soccer exchange match from 1998 to present, Japan Yutong University of Economics soccer team coach and director of Japan Football Association, and Japan University Football Federation I met coach Yuji Nakano, who is in charge of the board, and heard about the Japanese soccer system.

Q: Please introduce yourself

briefly. A: I am Yuji Nakano, currently 60 years old, head coach of Ryutsu Keizai University and director of the Japan Football Association and University Football Federation.

Q: What kind of school is Ryutsu Keizai University?

A: I first took the baton in 1998 and have been coaching players for 25 years now. Our school has been producing professional soccer players every year since 2002, and is recognized as a prestigious school in Japan for soccer, with about 100 players from our school currently playing in the J-League.

Q: Who is your representative player?

A: Morita Hidemasa, who participated in the 2022 Qatar World Cup as the Japanese national football team, is a representative currently active player. He currently also plays for Portuguese Sporting CP, and has produced 8 players for the Japanese national team so far. Morita was the first player to participate in the World Cup, and he was proud of his good performance.

Q: It’s amazing, I think it’s because the coach gave good guidance. Then, do you have a part that you emphasize when coaching the players?

A: I will retire as a player someday, and I am educating myself as a normal person before being a soccer player. In Korea, it seems that sports are exercised and studies are separated, but in Japan, school grades must be the basic basis to participate in soccer training. As I grow as a person, I think a player’s soccer skills also blossom. In Korea, there is a system in which leaders are fired if the team’s performance is poor, and there is a conscription system in Korea, so it seems that the players have an impatience that they must succeed quickly, but always emphasize to the players that they should continue steadily on the basics without being impatient. are doing

Q: I see. Japanese players are basically famous for good passing and control, that is, individual skills. What kind of training do you do a lot?

A: For example, the players who came here to interact with Hanyang University this time came without tactical training. But you can play on an equal footing. I understand that Korean players have a tournament next week, so they stay together as a team and train a lot as a team, but Japanese players have a lot of time for individual training. However, when team training, I think that I am showing good performance even if I only do individual exercises like this because I am used to and have become accustomed to watching the other players I train with and playing games.

Q: I heard that there are many soccer players in the school. How many are there?

A: There are currently 260 players in our school’s soccer team, but only 20 were selected for this exchange match. In addition to the players who came to Korea this time, 260 players are always competing fiercely. In fact, there is not much of a difference between the players. That’s why I think it’s important to create a composition where players can compete within the team.

Q: That’s great. The coach who is currently making the players warm up is the player, how is it possible for the player to coach the player?

A: There is a sports health science department at the school, and there is a system where students can experience not only football but also various sports within the market called sports. Unlike Korean university soccer teams, Japan’s prestigious university soccer club has at least 100 players, so it is more difficult for players to become pros than in Korea, so we do not suggest a way for players to grow into only soccer players unconditionally.

Q: Sounds like a good system. So how many teams and players are there in Japanese college football? I am curious about the system.

A: There are 400 universities that only have soccer teams. 10,000 soccer players are registered. High school football has 3900 teams. There are about 60,000 soccer players. The further down you go, the more players and the more teams. In Japan, education for soccer players is provided, of course, but because the system is equipped with a system that allows players to parallel studies, student athletes continue their careers by simultaneously studying and exercising. Players who have been famous since childhood go to schools with name values ​​like Waseda, but the players in our school do not have famous players when they were young. However, seeing that such players can advance to the professional soccer league through this school, I think that the possibility of advancing to the pros is open at any time, even if they are not exceptional players when they were young.

I’m not saying which one is better, but in Korea, there are many people who do most of the coaching to develop professional players, and in Japan, high school or university faculty members direct the coaching, so in Korea, if you don’t win, you’re fired or the team collapses. In Japan, I think that it is a little different for players to see the future and guide them. We also think winning in competitions is important, but more importantly, we are guiding with more emphasis on how this player will grow as a player and as a person.

* This year, the number of registered players in the Korea Football Association (KFA) is 97,991 including club members and futsal players, and the number of registered players in the Japan Football Association (JFA) is 9 times that number, reaching 818,000.

Q: I heard that there were Korean players at the school. Have you ever tried coaching yourself?

A: Yes. Quite a few players have gone through it. Yesterday too, when I said that I was in Korea, two Korean graduates came to visit me and gave me a tour here and there. 토토사이트

Q: I heard that Im Sang-hyup also graduated from this school. Do you remember the clinical team player?

A: Yes, I remember. He had good speed and was a good scorer. Now that I’m a bit older, my speed has dropped a bit compared to when I was a student, but I still think he’s a good player. Im Sang-hyup was so handsome during his student days that he was very popular among parents and students. If he doesn’t succeed in soccer, he told me to become a celebrity, but I’m proud to hear that he’s doing well in Korea.

Q: It seems that the soccer styles of Korean and Japanese players are different. Can you tell us about the strengths and weaknesses of the players of both countries in your opinion?

A: Korean players are physically better than Japanese players. In particular, I think that power and speed are ahead of Japanese players. Japanese players are not tall on average and have a lot of skinny constitution, so I think that you have to excel in technique and judgment to perform well on the pitch.

Q: You are busy. Thank you. One last word please

A: I think there is a possibility to go to the top of the world if the strengths of Korean soccer and Japanese soccer are combined. For example, if the physicality and speed of Korean soccer and the technique and system of Japanese soccer are combined, I think Asian soccer will become even stronger. Aside from the political part and all parts, I think a lot that it would be nice if Korea and Japan could try something together in football.

In the 1990s, Japanese soccer set a lofty goal of a “hundred-year vision” based on the everyday life of soccer and the expansion of its base. And as a result, Korean soccer and Japanese soccer show a clear gap in ‘quantity’. This year, the number of players registered with the Korea Football Association (KFA) is 97,991, including club members and futsal players, and the number of players registered with the Japan Football Association (JFA) reaches 818,000, 9 times that number.

There is also a large gap in the number of professional teams, the basis of elite soccer. The J-League has a total of 58 teams up to the 3rd Division, while the K-League has only 23 teams up to the 2nd Division.

The strengths of Korean soccer are clearly present.

However, in order for Korean soccer to go further and harder, it is necessary to install a system unique to Korean soccer, rather than aiming to go to the round of 16 right now. I want them to sense a crisis, find out what is lacking, and come up with specific countermeasures.