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Japanese coach Alberto Zaccheroni and captain Makato Hasebe hold the winners trophy after Japan defeated Australia in extra time 1-0 at the AFC Asian Cup Final match
Road to the 2014 World Cup
Third Round :
As per AFC’s seeding procedure, Japan received a bye to the third round of qualification where they were placed in Group C along with Uzbekistan, North Korea and Tajikistan. They won three of their first four games to ensure qualification to the fourth round with two games to spare.
Fourth Round :
In the fourth round, Japan qualified for the World Cup finals with one match left to play; they finished four points clear of second-placed Australia in the final standings.
The team
This is how the Japanese lined up in the qualification-clinching game against Australia : (4-2-3-1) Kawashima; Nagatomo, Yoshida, Konno, Uchida; Endo, Hasebe; Kagawa, Honda, Okazaki; Maeda.
It was virtually the same team that defeated Australia in the Asian Cup final in January 2011, except for Shinji Kagawa who missed that final through injury. This shows the stability in the squad, as the first XI has been at the top of the game in the two years since the Asian Cup.
Keeper Eiji Kawashima has been brilliant as ever and now plies his trade in Belgium for Standard Liege, appearing in all of his team’s league matches. Left-back Yuto Nagatomo, who was named in Arsene Wenger’s best XI for the 2010 World Cup, has racked up 97 appearances for Inter since joining in 2010. Centre-back Maya Yoshida has been first-choice for Southampton for most of the 2012-13 Premier League season. His partner in defence is Yasuyuki Konno, one of only three players in the first XI who play in the J-League. Right-back Atsuto Uchida made his national team debut while still in his teens, and now plays for Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga.
The two defensive midfielders are Makoto Hasebe and Yasuhito Endo. Captain Hasebe is the tireless engine man, and is a regular for VFL Wolfsburg, where he managed to win the Bundesliga in 2008-09. Japan’s most-capped player Endo is widely regarded as one of Asia’s best midfielders, despite never playing abroad. And then there is the trio of Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki – household names for those who religiously follow European football. CSKA’s Honda and Manchester United‘s Kagawa have both won multiple domestic titles in Europe while Okazaki, who has not been as successful with Stuttgart, has consistently shone at international level. Playing up front is Ryoichi Maeda, who has scored over 162 goals for his J-League club Jubilo Iwata.
The amount of talent and experience in this first XI is great but nevertheless, coach Alberto Zaccheroni, who took over after the last World Cup, has wisely chosen to experiment with his first team in international friendlies. He has since brought to the fore players like Mike Havenaar, Gotoku Sakai, Hiroki Sakai and Hiroshi Kiyotake. They all seem to have almost ensured their places in the squad that will go to Brazil. Though, their form over the next season might play spoilsport. It also remains to be seen if Arsenal‘s Ryo Miyaichi will make it to the final squad. Miyaichi, who has 2 caps, spent last season on loan at Wigan Athletic and will need to play regular football to impress Zaccheroni.
The prediction
Predicting the results of the 2014 World Cup, with one year still left, would be a tad premature, wouldn’t it? Yet, many fans across Japan and Asia have high hopes for this team, which in my opinion, is the best Japanese team in the last 15 years. This could well be called the Golden Generation of Japanese football, unless the colts who finished fourth at the 2012 Olympics better the exploits of their seniors. Take those colts and the 2011 Asian Cup-winning Golden Generation, put them together and you have potential greatness in your hands. The future does look bright for the Blue Samurai and if injuries and unlikely bad form do not intervene, 2014 may turn out to be the year Japan reach the quarter-finals or even better – who knows?
When Arsene Wenger was asked about Japan’s World Cup chances, he said: “Can they do much better than that? I don’t think they are a candidate to win the World Cup today, but when you look at their youth teams, Japan are a dominant force in the international tournaments. That means that their next step is to reach the semi-finals or final of the World Cup.”
As I was preparing this article, Japan fell 0-3 to Brazil in their Confederations Cup opener. I don’t think one should read much from this result though, as matches at the Confederations Cup rarely reflect what will happen at the World Cup. One just needs to study the results of the last few Confed Cups and World Cups to understand what I’m trying to say. So I, as an admirer of the Japanese national team, still remain hopeful of a great performance come 2014. Nippon Ole!
