Japan World Cup 2018
Japan continue an impressive run of World Cup appearances, as their Yugoslavian coach leads them to their sixth consecutive finals. Russia 2018 is the sixth finals in Japan’s history, and the sixth consecutive finals they have appeared in.
History at the World Cup
Their first ever World Cup finals appearance came at France 1998, where they lost to Argentina, Croatia, and Jamaica to finish bottom of their group. They co-hosted the tournament in 2002, with South Korea, and made it through to the last 16 for the first time. Topping their group, following wins over Tunisia and Russia, as well as an opening draw with Belgium, they went through to meet Turkey in the next round.
The match was close but ultimately the Japanese suffered upset with a 1-0 defeat. 2006 saw them finish bottom of the group again. But, they were back into the knockout stages in 2010, beating Cameroon and Denmark before losing a penalty shoot-out to Paraguay in the last 16. They would have fancied their chances of again reaching the knock out stages in 2014, being drawn in a group with Colombia, Ivory Coast, and Greece, but they finished bottom after one draw and two defeats.
- World Cup Finals Appearances – 5
- Previous Best Performance – Last 16 (twice)
How they qualified
Japan booked their place at a sixth consecutive World Cup finals by coming through Asian Football Confederation qualifying with relative ease. In the first group stage, they topped a group containing Syria, Singapore, Afghanistan, and Cambodia without conceding a goal. Seven wins and a 0-0 draw with Singapore meant they finished four points ahead of their nearest challengers.
They found the next group stage slightly more difficult. They lost the first match to United Arab Emirates, but went on a run of eight unbeaten to ensure they would be in the draw for the finals in Russia. This was despite losing the final qualifying match to Saudi Arabia. Twelve different players scored for Japan during the qualifying process, with Genki Haraguchi top scoring with four.
Coach/Manager
Former Yugoslavian international Vahid Halilhodžić took over as head coach of the Japan national team in 2015, and they are the third team he has qualified for the World Cup finals.
Ivory Coast were the first to qualify for a World Cup under his management, although he was sacked a few months before the 2010 finals. He then led Algeria to the last 16 of the 2014 finals in Brazil, where they beat South Korea and drew with Russia before losing to eventual champions Germany after extra time.
He is an experienced manager who has won several honours in his coaching career, and will be hoping he can lead Japan to at least the last 16 in Russia.
Star Players
Japan have several players who play at the top level of club football.
Defender Maya Yoshida, at Southampton, and Leicester City’s Shinji Okazaki ply their trade in the English Premier League, while several other squad members play in the top flight in Germany, Spain, or France.
Okazaki is one of the stars of the squad, sitting third in Japan’s all-time top scorer list at the time of writing, with fifty goals, and joint fourth for most caps, with 110.
Dortmund’s former Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa, and Keisuke Honda of Mexican club Pachuca are two other players who stand out as stars in the squad.
Japan World Cup 2018: Assessing Their Chances & Odds
Japan have been drawn in perhaps the weakest group in the finals, and have a great chance of advancing to the knock-out stages.
Although they may be the lowest FIFA ranked team in the group, with Poland, Colombia, and Senegal all higher placed, Colombia are the only one of the three to have beaten them in the past.
They have drawn one and lost two of three previous meetings with Colombia, have a 100% winning record after one meeting with Poland, and have never met Senegal before.
Another positive for Japan is that they have a better World Cup pedigree in recent years than the other three teams in their group.
It will be an extremely tight group, which may come down to goal difference to decide the placings, but Japan will have a great chance of going through if they can get off to a winning start against Colombia.
Our Japan World Cup Prediction
We believe that Colombia will prove to be the strongest team in Group H but Japan have a great chance of making it through to the last 16. A probable meeting with Belgium or England follows though, and that will likely be the end of the road for them. Our prediction is a battle with Poland for second place in the group and a plane home following defeat in the first knock-out round if they do manage to pip the Poles.