Former national team manager Akira Nishino admits he still has regrets about Japan's exit from this summer's World Cup in Russia, but he believes the team has a bright future under successor Hajime Moriyasu.
"Moriyasu hasn't been a manager for a great deal of time but he won the J. League title three times in four years with Sanfrecce Hiroshima and brought young players through," Nishino, who made way for Moriyasu at the end of July, told The Japan Times in an exclusive interview earlier this week.
"He also has experience of nurturing young players from when he coached the Japan Under-19 team. He's young and he doesn't have a huge amount of experience, but he does have a lot of quality. He's very good at bringing through young players."