Japan

Team Overview

Football in Japan grew after the creation of the J-League in 1993. Japan National Team has discipline and speed as the main characteristics but some talented players are also part of the current squad, which shows a clear evolution that came with the large number of foreign players, especially Brazilians, who play in the domestic club league. Such influence helped Japan National Football Team qualify for the last three editions of the FIFA World Cup.

History

Early Years

Japan National Team’s first international match was in 1917 against Republic of China. Even though the team lost by a heavy 5-0 the match played in Tokyo caused public interest and in the 1920’s Japan’s Football Association was organized to oversee regional tournaments especially among Universities and High School, most of them located in Tokyo.

In 1930 a more organized Japan National Team won the Far Eastern Championship after a 3-3 tie against China. The team participated in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and the 3-2 win over powerful Sweden came as a pleasant surprised for the Japanese squad.

Olympic Medal

In the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games, Japan was placed in Group B along with Nigeria, Spain and Brazil. The presence of the Spaniards and the Brazilians would give anybody the impression that Japan had no chances to move on to the next stage of the competition. But the Japanese got a win on the first match against Nigeria (3-1) and the draws with Spain (1-1) and Brazil (0-0) gave the Japanese the second spot of the group.

In the quarter-finals another surprising victory, this time over France, by a respectable 3-1 and the Japanese squad were already among the 4 best teams of the 1968 Olympic Games.

Japan lost the semi-finals to the powerful Hungary but with a 2-0 victory over hosts Mexico, the Japanese won the Bronze Olympic Medal.

World Cup History

After the creation of the Japanese Professional Football League – J-League – in 1993, the sport gained an incredible increase in popularity in the country.

With improvements and more technical players Japan qualified for their first World Cup in 1998. The Japanese team was seeded in Group H with Argentina, Jamaica and Croatia. Three loses and only one goal scored was the outcome of Japan’s participation but the result was less important than the experience the team got; that would make a difference four year later when the country was set to host the competition.

In 2002 Japan hosted the World Cup with South Korea. The Japanese Football Association had hired French coach Philippe Troussier expecting that he would take the team past the group stage. And he did. Japan tied the first match with Belgium 2-2 and beat Russia (1-0) and Tunisia (2-0) to secure the first place of group H.

In the round of 16 Japan couldn’t resist Turkey and a 1-0 defeat, eliminated the team from the competition.

Brazilian former star player Zico – who had become an idol in Japan playing for Kashima Antlers – was appointed as the coach for the 1006 World Cup. The team’s offense showed some improvements but the inexperience and the fragile defense was still there. Japan allowed 3 goals in the last 10 minutes of the match against Australia after being 1-0 ahead since minute 26. Then a goalless match with Croatia gave the Japanese the obligation to beat Zico’s home country Brazil. Japan scored first against the South Americans but once again, the fragile defense didn’t resist and the final score was Brazil 4-1.

World Cup 2002

Goalkeepers: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Portsmouth, England), Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight), Hitoshi Sogahata (Kashima Antlers).

Defenders: Yutaka Akita (Kashima), Toshihiro Hattori (Jubilo Iwata), Ryuzo Morioka (Shimizu), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka), Naoki Matsuda (Yokohama Marinos), Koji Nakata (Kashima).

Midfielders: Hiroaki Morishima (Cerezo Osaka), Takashi Fukunishi (Jubilo Iwata), Hidetoshi Nakata (Parma, Italy), Alessandro Santos (Shimizu S-Pulse), Kazuyuki Toda (Shimizu), Tomokazu Myojin (Kashiwa Reysol), Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima), Junichi Inamoto (Arsenal, England), Shinji Ono (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Daisuke Ichikawa (Shimizu).

Strikers: Masashi Nakayama (Jubilo Iwata), Takayuki Suzuki (Kashima), Akinori Nishizawa (Cerezo Osaka), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima).

Asian Cups

After finishing in last place in its first appearance in the Asian Nations Cup in 1988, Japan came back in 1992 in great fashion. The Japanese team displayed good tactical discipline and used speed and their home support to beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final match to win the tournament.

Japan would also win the Asian Cup two more times, in 2000 and in 2004 to share with Iran and Saudi Arabia as the countries with most titles of the competition.

Present

Japan is now coached by former National Team player Takeshi Okada. The team is in second place of Group 2 in the Third Round of the AFC 2010 World Cup Qualifying. The team has 3 points after beating Thailand (4-1) and losing to Bahrain (1-0). Japan’s Team will play matches against Ivory Coast and Paraguai in the end of May before its next fixture valid for the World Cup Qualifying on June 2 against Oman at the Yokohama Stadium.

Stars of the Current Squad

Shunsuke Nakamura

• Date of Birth: June 24, 1978
• Position: Midfielder
• Height: 178cm
• Regarded as the most successful Asian footballer to have played in Europe, Nakamura was the main player of the 2000 and 2004 squad the won the Asian Cup back-to-back. His creativity and pass quality make Nakamura a essential member of the Japanese squad.

Naohiro Takahara

• Date of Birth: June 4, 1979
• Position: Striker
• Height: 181cm
• The charismatic Takahara missed the 2002 World Cup due to an injury but came back in 2006 but didn’t score any goals. He currently came back to his home country to play for Urawa Red Diamonds after 5 years playing in the German Bundesliga.

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi

• Date of Birth: August 15, 1975
• Position: Goalkeeper
• Height: 181cm
• Kawaguchi is the team captain and leader of the team. He has already been capped 114 times for Japan National Team and has been in all three World Cups that Japan participated. If he maintains his good form he expects to play another one in 2010.

Team Legends

• Kamamoto
• Full Name: Kunishige Kamamoto
• Date of Birth: April 15, 1944 (1972-08-30)
• Position: Forward
• Caps: 76
• Goals: 75

Ihara

• Full Name: Masami Ihara
• Date of Birth: September 18, 1967 (1945-11-03)
• Position: Defender
• Caps: 122
• Goals: 5

Hidetoshi Nakata

• Full Name: Hidetoshi Nakata
• Date of Birth: January 22, 1977
• Position: Midfielder
• Caps: 77
• Goals: 11

Miura

• Full Name: Kazuyoshi Miura
• Date of Birth: February 26, 1967
• Position: Forward
• Caps: 89
• Goals: 55

Ruy Ramos

• Full Name: Ruy Gonçalves Ramos Sobrinho
• Date of Birth: February 9, 1957 (1970-06-01) (1960-04-13) (1951-09-05)
• Position: Midfielder
• Caps: 32
• Goals: 1

Nakayama

• Full Name: Masashi Nakayama
• Date of Birth: September 23, 1967(1969-06-09)
• Position: Forward
• Caps: 53
• Goals: 21

Most International Matches Played

Most Appearances

Most Goals

Player Recognition & Awards

Team Honours

• 1968 Olympic Games: Bronze Medal
• Asian Cup Champions: 1992, 2000, 2004

Management

Head Coach: Takeshi Okada

Okada has been elected J-League coach of the year for two seasons in a row (2003 and 2004). The 51-year old also was the coach of the national team that did not do well in their first World Cup appearance in 1998. Now, with more experience, Okada expects to lead Japan to another World Cup with hopes for a much better performance this time.

Uniforms

Home: blue shirt with white trim, white shorts

Away: white shirt, blue shorts

Important Links

• http://www.canadasoccer.com/

References

• http://www.canadasoccer.com/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_men's_national_soccer_team