Episode 258 - Samurai Blue Fail to Fire in Final

Dan Orlowitz and Stuart Smith guest on this bumper episode of the podcast to wrap up Japan at the Asian Cup, after the Samurai Blue's disappointing performance in the final against an inspired Qatar.

We naturally begin with the two terrific goals in the first half hour that saw the Qataris take control of the game, with an extended discussion on whether the criticism the Japan 'keeper Shuichi Gonda (and captain Maya Yoshida) faced in the wake of them was fair. We then segue on to the Japan Goalkeeping Summit (17:00 - 31:00), and finish with the two second half goals that firstly gave Japan hope, then VAR'd it away (to 39:15).

The rest of the episode is dedicated to answering a wide array of questions on Japan's performances, players that might come into (or back into) the national team frame and lessons for Hajime Moriyasu to take forward posed by listeners on twitter, before we finish with a chat about Dan's latest Japan Times piece.

Follow my guests on twitter and the web:

Dan - @aishiterutokyo

Dan's archive at The Japan Times

Stuart - @sushi_football

Stuart's We Are Gifu website