With one of the strongest squads in Asian soccer, Japan, winners of three of the last five editions of the AFC Asian Cup, have high hopes for South Africa.
First on the agenda is an improvement on the disappointing showing at Germany 2006, when the Samurai Blue exited at the first hurdle.
The road to South Africa
Having comfortably reached the fourth and final stage of the Asian Zone qualifying, Japan won four, drew three and lost just one of their eight matches in Group 1. A 2-1 reverse in Australia and a frustrating 0-0 at home against the same opponents were the lowlights of this final phase, though coach Takeshi Okada’s charges still finished well clear of Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan.
Star players
Japan’s biggest star is Shunsuke Nakamura, who recently made the switch to La Liga with Espanyol. Another player to watch is midfielder Keisuke Honda, while captain Yuji Nakazawa, will be leading from the back.
The coach
Okada is widely considered to be one of the finest Japanese strategists around. He was at the helm during Japan’s appearance at France 1998, and picked up the reins of the national team for a second time a year later — following the stroke suffered by previous coach Ivica Osim.
Facts
- This will be Japan’s fourth World Cup finals, all of which have been in a row. Their best finish came as hosts at Korea/Japan 2002, when they topped Group H ahead of Belgium, Russia and Tunisia to advance to the knockout stages for the first and so far only time.
- At his first finals as Japan coach, Okada’s charges lost each of their three group games, scoring once and conceding four times in the process.
- Masashi Nakayama scored Japan’s first ever World Cup goal, netting against Jamaica in 1998. — Fifa