“He’s a centre-forward! I’m a centre-back”, Rion Ichihara told FIFA, laughing.
And he is right: Japan’s captain and No5 – who lines up alongside Real Sociedad’s Kazunari Kita – is a centre-back standing 1.87m tall.
This was his response to being asked why he did not step forward in the first half, when Japan were awarded a penalty 35 minutes into their second group outing at the FIFA U-20 World Cup™, against hosts against Chile.
In their opening win against Egypt three days earlier, it was Ichihara who took responsibility and made no mistake from the spot, scoring Japan’s first goal of the tournament.
This time around, the Japanese captain handed over the honours to team-mate Rento Takaoka, who had been brought down to win the penalty. “He’s a striker and he said that he wanted to take it”, said the defender who was named Visa Player of the Match.
However, when Shunsuke Saito was brought down in the area ten minutes into the second half, his captain did not think twice. “We missed the first penalty, so I wanted to make up for that. I’m good at penalties”, he added.
When the whistle was blown, Ichihara showed excellent composure and kept a cool head in spite of more than 42,000 Chilean fans making their presence known. As Sebastian Mella dived to his right in the Chilean goal, Japan’s captain stepped up and coolly placed his penalty down the middle, giving his side a 1-0 lead.
Having scored his second of the tournament, the Japan centre-back is an unlikely candidate in the race for the adidas Golden Boot at the U-20 World Cup, as he sits one goal behind USA’s Benjamin Cremaschi and level with Ukraine’s Hennadii Synchuk and Argentina’s Alejo Sarco – both strikers.
Clearly, head coach Yuzo Funakoshi is not expecting Ichihara to go out onto the pitch looking to score in every game. Naturally, his priority is preventing goals at the other end, and his goal-scoring has taken nothing away from his defensive responsibilities – Japan are yet to concede in their 180 minutes of football so far in Chile.
The Chileans did create chances, but they were limited to a few clear-cut ones. Ichihara’s central defensive partner Kazunari Kita thinks that this is in large part down to his team-mate’s performances, as well as having a very well-organised system.
“I didn’t play well today. [In our partnership] if one of us goes to engage an opponent, the other covers – that’s the principle we follow. He helped me a lot today”, explained Kita.
“Everyone does a job, though. I think the defensive line and the whole team have been really good, against an opponent who I thought were a really good team”, the centre-back added.
Having picked up their second win in as many games, Japan have already secured their place in the last 16 of the U-20 World Cup. Their third match of the tournament sees them close out Group A against New Zealand, on Friday 3 October in Valparaiso.
