Move is a temporary measure as J.League transitions to European schedule but could benefit national team in US, Canada and Mexico this summer
C
ynics may say it is no coincidence the J.League has introduced penalty shootouts to replace draws just before the World Cup. Japan have identified the quarter-finals as the target this summer after failing to progress past the last 16 on three of the past four occasions, with two of those disappointments coming after failures from the spot.
The 2022 tournament was the worst, with the Samurai Blue, who should have seen off Croatia during normal time, losing the shootout 3-1 in dismal fashion.
For this “J1 100 Year Vision League” season, which started on 6 February, games that finish all square have gone straight to shootouts. “Why not? Japan’s bad at penalties,” Saburo Kawabuchi, the inaugural chair of the J.League said this month. “You just can’t win if you don’t practise regularly. Even in the last World Cup, it was all mistakes right from the start. I felt like telling them to be a bit more inventive.”
