In the finals of the World Cup, Japan faced Croatia in the early morning hours of 6 (December 2022) Japan time, with the score 1-1 even after extra time. first time. “THE TIME,” said MC Shinichiro Azumi (49), “In the upcoming 2026 World Cup, the 32 participating teams will be greatly increased to 48 teams. The number of slots from Asia will be 8.5. The final tournament is the best. I started at 32. In four years, I may have more sleepless nights.
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Aiming for the next
Player name spelling “traffic slogan”
In the 43rd minute of the first half, Japanese FW Daizen Maeda (25′) scored the first goal of the tournament. However, last season’s runners-up Croatia leveled the score ten minutes into the second half with Perisic’s header. In the penalty shootout, Takumi MINAMINO aimed for the right corner but it was blocked by the goalkeeper, followed by Kaoru MITOMA who also stopped a shot on the ground at the left corner. The third player, Takuma Asano, scored, but the fourth player, Maya Yoshida, was also prevented from going to left corner. During this period, Croatia scored 2 of 3 goals before the 4 scored into the left corner to make it 3-1. Japan’s first advance into the top 8 did not come true.
Maeda, who scored the goal, said: “It was a tournament to give back to the people who supported me, but I’m really sorry I couldn’t progress to the next stage.” Playmaker Hajime Moriyasu (54) said: “We couldn’t get past the round of 16 wall, but the players showed us a new era. We beat Germany (4 times World Cup winners) and Spain (1 time and beat the World Cup champion. Also, if you think about ‘overcoming’ instead of ‘catching up’, the future will change.”
In the past, Japan had nothing to do with the World Cup, but with the launch of the J-League in May 1993, the level of Japanese football has improved significantly. At the USA World Cup tournament, he was one step away from participation. In October 1993 against Iraq, it was the ‘Doha tragedy’ when the score was leveled just before the end of the match.
However, in November 1997, as a “Johor Bahru delight”, Masayuki Okano, a wild man, scored the winning goal and decided to participate in the World Cup for the first time. However, Takeshi Okada, the coach at that time, removed “Kazu Miura” (Kazura) from the national team and lost all three matches in the group stage. In the 2002 Japan-Korea tournament, Japan, led by coach Troussier, scored their first point by drawing with Belgium. He defeated Russia and Tunisia to enter the final tournament for the first time. However, they lost to Turkey and did not advance to the final eight. At the 2006 German tournament, they were eliminated from the group championship without even winning a single match. Subsequently, they were unable to break the best 16 at the South Africa tournament in 2010, lost in the group stage of the Brazil tournament in 2014, and the best 16 at the 2018 Russian tournament and the “best 8 block”.
However, this year’s World Cup has already become a “traffic slogan”. “Safe driving with a disciplined mind even in December” (Kumamoto Prefectural Police, refer to Mr. Ritsu Doan), “Check left and right even at the blue signal of the intersection” (refer to Mr. Midori Tanaka).
(Sakae)
