World Cup Japan Preview, Predictions, Players and Stats
Japan believe they have a strong chance of progressing to the knock-out stages but it will not be an easy job. They are placed in a tough Group H with Colombia, Poland and Senegal where each of the teams have pretty good chances to go through. Here’s everything you need to know about the team:
Japan heads into a sixth consecutive World Cup and all players are highly motivated for the biggest world tournament. Japan played a defensive, counter-attacking based game which worked brilliantly in their Asian qualifying groups and they finished their qualification campaign round 2 with seven wins and one draw. In the next round they finished on the first place with Saudi Arabia and Australia behind them. Their main objective for this tournament will be to reach Round of 16 and we expect from them to play aggressive football in all three games.
FIFA Ranking: 61
Japan Coach
AKIRA NISHINO – He managed national team from April 2018
Japan Players
It is provisional squad and will be reduced to 23 players for the World Cup.
GOALKEPERS:
Eiji Kawashima (Metz). Masaaki Higashiguchi (Gamba Osaka), Kosuke Nakamura (Kashiwa Reysol)
DEFENDERS:
Yuto Nagatomo (Galatasaray), Tomoaki Makino, Wataru Endo (Urawa Reds), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Hiroki Sakai (Marseille), Gotoku Sakai (Hamburg), Gen Shoji, Naomichi Ueda (Kashima Antlers)
MIDFIELDERS:
Yosuke Ideguchi (Leonesa), Makoto Hasebe (Eintracht Frankfurt), Toshihiro Aoyama (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Keisuke Honda (Pachuca), Takashi Inui (Eibar), Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Genki Haraguchi, Takashi Usami (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Gaku Shibasaki (Getafe), Ryota Oshima (Kawasaki Frontale), Kento Misao (Kashima Antlers)
FORWARDS:
Yuya Osako (Werder Bremen), Yoshinori Muto (Mainz), Shinji Okazaki (Leicester), Takuma Asano (Stuttgart)
Japan Stats
Stats are based on the last 10 games (including friendly matches)
| Japan | |
|---|---|
| FORM(WON-DRAW-LOSS) | 3-1-6 |
| GOALS SCORED | 11 |
| SHOTS ON TARGET | 46 |
| SHOTS OFF TARGET | 44 |
| GOALS CONCEDED | 18 |
| TOTAL GOALS | 29 |
| OVER 1.5 GOALS | 8 |
| OVER 2.5 GOALS | 5 |
| OVER 3.5 GOALS | 3 |
| UNDER 1.5 GOALS | 2 |
| UNDER 2.5 GOALS | 5 |
| BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE | 6 |
| CLEAN SHEETS | 1 |
| CORNERS | 41 |
| FOULS | 154 |
| YELLOWS | 13 |
| REDS | 0 |
| OFFSIDES | 19 |
Japan World Cup History
World Cup appearances: 5
Semifinals: 0
Best finish: Round of 16 two times
Last World Cup: 2014
Japan World Cup 2018 Matches
June 19 – Japan vs. Colombia
June 24 – Japan vs. Senegal
June 28 – Japan vs. Poland
Japan Prediction and Expectations on World Cup 2018
Group H is one of the more interesting groups on the tournament and all teams have a chance to go through. In the first round they will play against Colombia, and if lose this game then they will not have good chances for top spot. So that game will the most important one for them and all players are eager to pick up some points against stronger Colombia. Japan’s squad contains four players with more than 80 caps and they can play well organised. But they like to play aggressive in midfield and we expect lots of midfield duels and fouls on their matches.
Baxter