About the Japanese national team
The Japan men's national football team was founded in 1921 and joined FIFA in 1929. It has won four championships in the 1992 Asian Cup in Japan, the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon, the 2004 Asian Cup in China and the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar, making it the team with the most wins in the history of the Asian Cup.
Japan has played in the World Cup finals seven times (including the 2022 Qatar World Cup) and the best record is the round of 16, which they achieved in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Japan has reached the world cup finals for the first time since 1998 and has not missed the final rounds since.
- 1998 Fifa World Cup in France: Japan, who entered the World Cup for the first time, was in a group with Argentina, Croatia and Jamaica, and lost all three games, but scored one goal, scoring player Masashi Nakayama. At that time, goalkeeper Kawaguchi Nobuyuki was also famous for always smiling actively.
- 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup: Japan, who competed for the second time, reached the round of 16.
- 2006 FIFA World Cup, Germany: Grouped with Brazil, Croatia and Australia, 1 point, out of the group stage.
- 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa: Teaming up with the Netherlands, Denmark and Cameroon, the group stage only lost to the Netherlands to reach the round of 16.
- 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil: Divided into groups with Colombia, Greece and Côte d'Ivoire, the group stage is out, three games, two losses and one draw.
- 2018 World Cup russia: second in the group stage, pushing Senegal to advance to the round of 16, and losing to Belgium in the quarter-finals with a score of 2-3, missing the quarter-finals.
In the latest FIFA World Football Rankings, Japan is ranked 24th, after Iran in Asia, which is ranked 2nd.
A soccer superstar in Japanese history
Tomora Miura
In 1993, he scored 20 goals in a single season in the Japanese League and was elected Asian Footballer of the Year.
The "ageless myth" of Japanese football, the first player in the J League to be over 50 years old.
Masashi Nakayama
In the 1998 World Cup, france played against Jamaica, he scored the first World Cup goal in the history of Japanese football.
He has won two Japan Professional Football League top scorers and one Japan Professional Football League Player of the Year.
Hidetoshi Nakata
The first Japanese star to stand in Europe's top five leagues.
In 1997 and 1998, he was elected Asian Footballer of the Year for two consecutive times.
At the heart of the Japanese team at the 2002 World Cup, as the captain of the Japanese team, he helped the team reach the round of 16.
Shun Nakamura
He has won 1 Japan League Cup, 1 Japan Emperor's Cup, 3 Scottish Premier League, 1 Scottish FA Cup, 1 Scottish League Cup and 2 Asian Cup football tournaments.
1999 Japan J Football League MVP, 2000 Japan Football League MVP, 2006–07 Scottish Premier League MVP, 2007 Scottish Football League MVP, 2013 Japan J Football League MVP.
Naoyasu Takahara
2002 Japan J Football League Top Scorer Award, 2002 Japan J Football League Most Valuable Player, 2002 Japan FootballEr of the Year.
Hohito Endo
2008 Asian Football Club Champions League Player of the Year and Japan Player of the Year Award, Asian Footballer of the Year 2009, Japan Professional Football League Team of the Year 2013, Japan Professional Football League Player of the Year 2014.
Keisuke Honda
2013 Asian Golden Globe Awards
2011 Asian Cup Most Valuable Player
2010 Japan Player of the Year
Shinji Tomizaki
2016 Asian Golden Globe Awards.
AFC Player of the Year 2016 Award.
The third top scorer in the history of the Japanese national team, scoring more than 50 goals for the national team.
Shinji Kagawa
In the 2009 season, he was elected the top scorer of the Japanese Professional Football League Second Division.
In 2012, he was voted the Best European Player of the Asian Football Confederation.
He made 97 appearances for the Japanese national team and scored 31 goals.
The latest squad for the 2022 Fifaccia World Cup japan in Qatar
Head Coach: Hoichi Mori
He led Sanfrecce Hiroshima three times to win the J-League title and the Japanese Super Cup. According to the statistics of the Japanese media "Sino-Japanese Sports", Mori Hoichi has surpassed Ziko to become the manager with the most wins and the highest winning rate in the history of the Japanese national team.
Goalkeepers: Nagashi Kawashima (Strasbourg), Shuichi Kwonda (Shimizu Heartbeat), Akio Tani (Shonan Marine)
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo (free body), Shirai Yamane (Kawasaki forward), Muraya Seiri (Hannover 96), Maya Yoshida (Sampdoria), Sho Sasaki (Sanfrecce HIROSHIMA), Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Red Diamonds), Naotori Ueda (Nim), Yuta Nakayama (Zwolle), Kenhiro Fuan (Bologna)
Midfielders: Genki Haraguchi (Hanover), Takumi Minamino (Liverpool), Hidemasa Morita (Santa Clara), Mt. Shibasaki (Leganes), Hang Endo (Stuttgart), Junya Ito (Genk), Daichi Kamada (Frankfurt), Itakura (Schalke 04), Anro Don (Eindhoven), Akira (Mallorca)
Forwards: Ōkiyo (Kobe Victory Ship), Kobashi Kengo (Celtic)
Active player of the Japanese national team
Nagatomo Yuto
He made 127 appearances for the Japanese national team, ranking second in the history of the Japanese national team.
He has completed a running distance of 15,000 meters in a single race several times, and he is very fast.
Nagashi Kawashima
In the 2009 season, Kawashima was selected for the Best Team of the J-League in Japan and won the J-League Fair Play Individual Award.
Best Eleven at the 2002 AFC U-19 Championship.
2012 Royal Liers Player of the Year.
Maya Yoshida
He has played for Nagoya Whale Eight FC in Japan, VVV Venlo FC in the Netherlands, and Southampton FC in England.
On 5 July 2022, Maya Yoshida officially joined the Bundesliga club Schalke 04.
Kamada Daichi
He currently plays for Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.
On 29 April 2022, in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals, Kamada Daichi scored the winning goal in the 54th minute to help Eintracht Frankfurt win 2-1 away to West Ham.
On 19 May 2022, in the Europa League final, Kamada Scored a goal in a penalty shootout to help Eintracht Frankfurt win the Glasgow Rangers through a penalty shootout to win the Europa League for the second time in 42 years.
Takumi Minamino
At the age of 27, he is at the peak of his career, and he can play in multiple positions with delicate skills and the ability to change the game.
Takumi Minamino's outstanding performances last season helped Liverpool win two titles in the FA Cup and league cup.
Fuan Jianyang
He currently plays for Arsenal F.C. in the Premier League.
In 2016, Japan won the U-20 Asian Cup. Jian Yang, who played as a central defender in 19 years, won the Asian Cup runner-up. In 22 years, he was selected for the Japanese team to compete in the World Cup.
Hisashi Ken-ei
He currently plays for Real Sociedad in the Spanish Football League with a transfer fee of 13 million euros. He is known as the future star of Japanese football.
2022 Fifa World Cup Japan Fixtures (Group Stage)
- November 23, 21:00 Germany vs Japan
- November 27th, 18:00 Japan vs Costa Rica
- 2nd December at 0:00 Japan vs Spain
2022 Qatar World Cup Japan qualifying predictions
The Japanese national team is divided into Group E, along with Spain, Costa Rica and Germany. It can be seen that if the Japanese national team wants to qualify for the World Cup knockout round, it also needs to experience many difficulties in the group stage!
Prediction: Japan finished third in the group and missed the round of 16.
Do you think the Japanese team can break through the double encirclement of Germany and Spain to advance to the round of 16?