Short name:
JPN
Middle size name:
Japan
The Blue Samurai nearly caused an almighty shock in 2018 when they scored twice early in the second half to take a 2-0 lead in their round of 16 tie against the world’s top-ranked team Belgium, who fought back to hit a winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
That was the third time they had been knocked out in the last 16 but they will do well to get out of a group comprising Spain, Germany and Costa Rica in their seventh successive World Cup finals.
Their qualification campaign started badly, with defeats to Oman and Saudi Arabia in their first three games, but recovered to finish runners-up.
The Japan World Cup 2022 odds point towards a difficult campaign but they went down narrowly to a strong Brazil team in between 4-1 wins against Paraguay and Ghana, although a 3-0 defeat to Tunisia in the Kirin Cup final suggest there is still work to be done.
Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Strasbourg), Shuichi Gonda (Shimizu S-Pulse), Schmid Daniel (Sint-Troiden VV)
Defenders: Hiroki Sakai (Urawa Red Diamonds), Miki Yamane (Kawasaki Frontale), Ko Itakura (Borussia Monchengladbach), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Maya Yoshida (Schalke), Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo)
Midfielders: Junya Ito (Reims), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Wataru Endo (Stuttgart), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Take Kubo (Real Sociedad), Takumi Minamino (Monaco), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Yuki Soma (Nagoya Grampus)
Forwards: Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Ayase Ueda (Cercle Brugge), Takuma Asano (Bochum)
