Shogun Soccer Scouting #19: Rion Ichihara (Part 2)
Another look at the potential star Center Back, two years on.
Hi all. When it comes to scouting blogs I feel like a lot of people are fairly one-and-done and quickly move on to chase the next Cannavaro/Messi/etc. after writing about a particular player. So to change things up again, I thought it’ll be a good exercise to do a Part Two on Rion Ichihara1. I think it’s interesting to do a longitudinal-type analysis on a particular player and I also have a lot more experience under my belt now in the nearly two years since I wrote the first one on him2.
In lieu of other players that I could be writing about I’m going to anchor myself to Ichihara. Hopefully I can find footage easily enough once he’s in Europe. Well, let’s hope my confidence was placed in the right player in five years time!
Let’s get started!
tl;dr (too long; didn’t read): Excellent in the air due to both physical & cognitive attributes. Incisive passing in the build-up phase. Composure & leadership at domestic & international levels. Some concerns with speed/acceleration in high-line setting.
Date of Birth: July 7th, 2005
Age: 20 years old
Nationality: Japan
Position: Center Back (Back 4 or Back 3), Right/Left/Center
Club: RB Omiya Ardija (J2)
Squad Number: #4 (2025 J2 season), #5 (Youth national team)
Height/Weight: 1.87m // 81 kg (Source: Soccer Digest)
VIDEO NOTE: RB Omiya Ardija’s HOME kits are navy shirts with orange patterns, orange shorts, with white lettering, orange socks. AWAY kits are white shirt with navy sleeves, white socks and shorts with black lettering. Ichihara wears #4 at the club level. He wears #5 and the captain’s armband for the youth national teams.
DATA NOTE: The percentile ranking stats are all from WyScout courtesy of Ben Griffis’ best XI app.
Defending
Ichihara has ample experience in a Back 3 and Back 4, performing roles all across the back-line. In the past season he’s had to deal with tactical changes due to a managerial change from Tetsu Nagasawa to Yuki Miyazawa. For most of his time at RB Omiya Ardija, Ichihara was set up a bit deeper in a Back 3/Back 5 block. In the last month or so of the 2025 season, the team switched permanently to a Back 4. In general they were also a lot more aggressive in their defending and the block height (at least from my eyes) was set higher too. For a bit more detail on their season, check out the J2 Season Review!
In line with what I tried to do with the Shion Shinkawa report, I’m going to dig real deep into Rion Ichihara’s aerial duels in particular. I’ll cover the other aspects of his game too but in less detail.
Aerial Duels
One thing I did notice since the last time I wrote about him is that Ichihara has grown a wee bit taller (185cm » 187cm according to Soccer Digest) and put on more muscle. Of course, winning aerials is not just about physical ability. A large part is cognitive! In this sense I think Ichihara has a good eye for judging the flight of the ball, identifying where the ball will drop, and takes up positions quickly before the opponent.
Another cognitive function is scanning at the right times and adjusting body shape to keep vision on both the runner(s) and the ball as much as possible. Ichihara does well with his footwork to shift and adapt to the play in front of him. His awareness of the situation around him gives him the wherewithal to also place cushioned headers into the path of his teammates instead of simply clearing it away.
Still, the physical aspects can’t be ignored. After taking up good positions for aerial balls, Ichihara initiates contact with the attacker in a variety of ways. A slight bump to unbalance or destabilize the opponent’s jumping attempt. Ichihara also uses his arms as leverage across his opponent or hold down the attacker while simultaneously pushing off the ground.
Of course, it’s not always possible that the defender can take up a position ahead of the attacker. In which case, Ichihara uses momentum in his favor for winning aerial duels. Ichihara has very good jumping ability, not just relying on his height for headers, and usually makes contact with the ball at the apex of his jumps. As seen throughout the footage in this section, he performs good leaps using a single leading foot from a run up and stationary jumps with both feet. Ichihara does occasionally foul from tussling a bit too much so he needs to be a bit more careful there.
Overall, Rion Ichihara’s aerial ability is superior when looking across Center Backs in the J2 league and shows promising signs of translating to a higher level given his experiences against continental and non-Asian opponents as well. His dominance in these situations is even more impressive considering the fact that Ichihara assumes a majority of the responsibility for these duels on the teams he plays for (in that he doesn’t simply have a big win % because of a smaller sample size). As with most cases when a player makes the jump over to Europe, I imagine his aerial win % will dip initially but as long as Ichihara acclimatizes it should stabilize over time.
Box Defending
In his own box, Ichihara has a commanding presence due to his vocal communication with his teammates. He is organizing the back-line before and after crosses or set pieces. As an individual contributor, Ichihara has great awareness when defending crosses, even when running back quickly he makes sure to scan around which allows him to react to block crosses or get between the intended target to clear it away. Box defending was my main concern two years ago but since then I think Ichihara has improved in terms of being a better judge of the flight of the ball and properly setting himself up for dangerous situations.
One point I want to mention is one particular aspect of his athleticism. He has really good core and leg strength to be able to plant and absorb momentum quickly to stop and shift his weight when reacting to crosses/passes in the box.
Block & Transition Defending
Ichihara’s command of the defensive line obviously extends to outside the box as he marshals the line height well. He maintains good spacing with his fellow teammates and keeps a clear field of vision across the defense line. This allows him to be in position to support his teammates engaging the ball carrier, to then shift into the vacant space when an opponent bypasses them. Ichihara has quite a slim body frame for a Center Back yet is aggressive in challenges and wins a majority of his duels across the pitch. Sorry about the quality of the image below but it’s coming directly from Opta Japan’s social media account…3
Ichihara relies a lot on his anticipation. In physical terms, pay attention to his shifting body shape in the footage below as the play develops quickly in front of him. I find Ichihara to be quite light and agile on his feet to shift directions mid-run from a half-on stance to react and intercept passes.
These aspects are quite important as his acceleration is not all that good while his top-end speed built up over time is decent but certainly not elite. I won’t go as far to say he’s slow but I do think he has trouble with fast attackers in a straight foot-race.4 We’ll need to carefully monitor how he does in higher blocks against much faster opponents in an European setting as he didn’t have to contend with these situations very often at the J2 and Asian continental level.
This does mean he has to slide to tackle or block at the end of his sprints that wouldn’t be necessary if he was a bit quicker. It’s also an issue when the tempo is fast and the opponent plays a ball to a player between-the-lines, Ichihara doesn’t step up from the defensive line quickly enough to close the distance and he can get bypassed by quick 1-2s or combinations around him. This is something to keep an eye on as he gets minutes in Europe.
Finally, I’ll note that Ichihara has a very clean bill of health. Throughout his 2.5 years as a professional he has barely missed a game from injury or sickness. His league game absences are mostly as a result of being called away for youth Japan national team duty where he also plays the majority of minutes. Most recently he had a very minor ankle problem that forced him off in the semi-final of the U-23 Asian Cup a week ago but he was back without issue for the final against U-23 China a few days later.
On-The-Ball
Icihara isn’t just a leader defensively but takes charge in possession as well. On the ball Ichihara is fairly comfortable under pressure, able to use both feet, and not often caught out on the ball. His movements with the ball is about quick changes of directions with shoulder drops to evade opponents. He also likes to employ the pull-and-drag-back to escape tackles (the Sergio Busquets move). What I like in particular is his spatial awareness to turn against the direction of opponent pressure as he is receiving the ball.
Regarding his passing, Ichihara doesn’t simply recycle it around but can provide some thrust with his line-breaking passes into the midfielders. Like with his ball carrying, Ichihara is good at disguising his intentions with his body shape and ability to find passes at tight angles. He maintains his value in more settled possession when the team is pushed into the opponents half. His aforementioned carrying ability also allows him to be an asset when he wins the ball and starts counterattacks.
Ichihara also possesses significant range with his passing. From simple long balls over the top on his particular side of the pitch or more raking long diagonals to the opposite Wing Back or Wide Midfielder allows Ichihara to change the tempo of his team’s possession quite quickly. I do think this is an aspect that he’s improved upon since the last time I wrote about him. From a quick look at WyScout data, his long pass completion % improved from 47% in J3 2024 to 61% in J2 2025.
A nice bonus is that he is somewhat of a threat from set-pieces despite only the solitary goal for Omiya this season (it wasn’t even a header, actually). In addition, what’s probably more widely known is his goal scoring exploits for the national team as he is an excellent, composed penalty kick taker.
Conclusion
Rion Ichihara is another Center Back prospect that has popped up in recent years as Japan have started producing multiple defenders at the top European league standard. With ample experience in both a Back 3 and Back 4, Ichihara is able to perform roles all across the back-line. He is a captain at the club and youth national team level, showing composure and leadership that belies his youth. What’s also noticeable from his various interviews is his positive personality, if you look around you can translate some of his interviews from after the U-20 World Cup or the U-23 Asian Cup.
A key skill is his proficiency in aerial duels which as described above is a mixture of both physical and cognitive abilities. As a leader in the back-line he organizes his teammates in box defending as well as controlling the line in a block. On the ball, Ichihara is comfortable maneuvering under pressure and has the build-up capacity to play more vertical passes into midfield rather than simply recycling it around (even if as the data below shows he is not doing it at high volumes).
As you might imagine there has been a number of interested parties looking to bring Ichihara to Europe in the past few years as his appearances at the domestic and international level increased. Currently the biggest rumor is centered around AZ Alkmaar, a fairly regular Europa/Conference League participant; no mean feat in a league where the continental competition slots are usually dominated by the Big 3 of Ajax/Feyenoord/PSV which creates a hard ceiling for the rest. One could perhaps say he could’ve jumped a bit higher but AZ Alkmaar seems like a logical first step into European football. Give Ichihara two years or so and he should be able to move up to a Top 5 league. I even wrote in Part One that:
I think he can be a true asset for a Top 5 League European club (perhaps around Europa League level to start) in the next couple of years. [note: written in early 2024]
Perhaps some of his athletic limitations place a ceiling that will prevent him from going to the truly elite Champions League/domestic title contender type teams but I think he’s shown enough already that you can project a pretty good career from here on out. Overall, here are some potential routes of Rion Ichihara’s career progression:
Bear case: Ichihara has difficulty adapting to a European league standard at a consistent level. Aerial success rate plummets & he can’t keep up with the increased speed of play.
Neutral case: Aerial success dips a little but stabilizes over time as Ichihara gets used to an European league standard with time. After initial adjustments establishes himself as a clear starter and helps AZ Alkmaar to consistently get into the Europa League, maybe even a deep run in the competition. Stays for two years before making a jump to an upper-half Top 5 league team.
Bull case: Immediately wins a starting spot on AZ Alkmaar and makes a case for a World Cup squad spot (very unlikely but again, these are just hypotheticals). After a fantastic 2026-2027 season (highlighted by a deep Europa League run, for example) is quickly targeted by an upper-half Top 5 league team in 2027.
Thanks for reading!
Resources, Limitations, etc.
Video analysis: DaVinci Resolve 19
Tactical diagrams: Tacticalista
Time period: 2025 J2 Season, Japan Youth/National team
Footage: Broadcast footage, no tactical camera
Stats: FBref, Transfermarkt, WyScout, FotMob
Player radars: Ben Griffis
I feel like my previous piece on Shion Shinkawa qualifies as #19 but it might be in its own category. I’ll still have that one grouped with the other Shogun Soccer Scouting pieces though.
Times flies! Perhaps I “went too early” with this one. Many such cases. I probably will need to write a Part 2 for Yuto Ozeki at this rate as well…
I don’t know what it is but a lot of Japanese social media accounts have absolutely no clue about image resolution and other image quality issues. Perhaps some stems from some weird notion that people will steal/repurpose their work… in which case why bother posting at all?
Again, I would love to have some actual physical metrics to confirm this! Rating speed off of just footage can be tricky as your perception can be obfuscated relative to the players your guy is running against...