Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu stressed the efforts of his players despite their 4-0 loss to Chile on Monday in their CONMEBOL Copa América 2019 debut.
"It was a sad defeat, we have to recognize an important difference in the clarity of the football we represent, but I think the important thing is that we didn't panic against the current champions, we had some options and real possibilities of scoring goals", the strategist said at a press conference.
Moriyasu highlighted "the fighting spirit" of his players, who are also preparing for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
"The truth is that the clarity of all the players in Chile was very high, in their ability to make decisions, their ability with the ball, the team as a whole, in attack and defense, had a very high quality", he added.
Japan still can't win the Copa América, in which they are participating for the second time after the Paraguay-1999 edition, where they scored one of nine possible points. His next exit will be against Uruguay on Thursday in Porto Alegre.
