Japan World Cup Team

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General Information
Team profile - Japan
Capital City- Tokyo
Continent- Asia
Captain- Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
Manager- Zico

Team History
Founded 1921
Affiliated 1929

WC participations2 (1998, 2002)
WC honours Last sixteen (2002)
Continental TitlesAsian Cup twice (1992, 2000)

World Cup Record:
Year Host Performance
1930 Uruguay -
1934 Italy -
1938 France -
1950 Brazil -
1954 Switzerland -
1958 Sweden -
1962 Chile -
1966 England -
1970 Mexico -
1974 West Germany -
1978 Argentina -
1982 Spain -
1986 Mexico -
1990 Italy -
1994 U.S.A. -
1998 France Fourth, Group H
2002 S.Korea/Japan Second Round (last 16)
2006 Germany in Group F with Brazil, Croatia, Australia
JAPAN Football Team for 2006 FIFA World Cup

Coach:
Zico

Goalkeepers:
Seigo Narazaki, Yoichi Doi, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

Defenders:
Makoto Tanaka, Yuichi Komano, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Koji Nakata, Alessandro Alex Santos, Keisuke Tsuboi, Akira Kaji, Yuji Nakazawa.

Midfielders:
Yasuhito Endo, Hidetoshi Nakata, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Takashi Fukunishi, Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono.

Forwards:
Naohiro Takahara, Seiichiro Maki, Atsushi Yanagisawa, Masashi Oguro, Keiji Tamada.

Japan Statistics in Group F with Brazil, Croatia, Australia
Jersey No. Name of the Player
1 Seigo Narazaki
2 Makoto Tanaka
3 Yuichi Komano
4 Yasuhito Endo
5 Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
6 Koji Nakata
7 Hidetoshi Nakata
8 Mitsuo Ogasawara
9 Naohiro Takahara
10 Shunsuke Nakamura
11 Seiichiro Maki
12 Yoichi Doi
13 Atsushi Yanagisawa
14 Alessandro Alex Santos
15 Takashi Fukunishi
16 Masashi Oguro
17 Junichi Inamoto
18 Shinji Ono
19 Keisuke Tsuboi
20 Keiji Tamada
21 Akira Kaji
22 Yuji Nakazawa
23 Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi

Japan is playing in Group F along with Brazil, Croatia and Australia. Japan has participated in the world cup twice in 1998 and 2002. This time it is Japan's third successive FIFA World Cup finals. Japan was the first team after host Germany to qualify for the World Cup.

In the Asian Final Round of Qualifying matches in Group 2, Japan suffered a 2-1 defeat in Iran on 25 March 2005. Then Japan had victories over Bahrain in both the home and away matches. In Bangkok on 8 June, they defeated North Korea 2-0 and qualified for Germany 2006. Japan won its last match against Iran at home and finished at top of their group with 15 points.

In USA 94, Japan lost because of a dramatic last-minute Iraqi equalizer in Doha. In their FIFA World Cup debut in France 1998, Japan got eliminated in the first round itself. The team reached the second round in South Korea/ Japan 2002 after victories over Russia and Tunisia.

In the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, Japan defeated China 3-1 in the finals. Japan put forth a commendable display at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

It is believed that Japan has Asia's most formidable midfield line-up with Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura and Shinji Ono. Nakata has been awarded the player of the year award twice.

Asian soccer fans have high hopes that Japan will perform well in the opening match with Australia. This match is crucial for progressing in the group stages. Croatia, Australia and Japan all of them have equal chances of advancing.