Statisticians should agree on one prediction for Japan’s performance at the World Cup in Qatar: out in the preliminary round. Since Japan’s first World Cup qualification in 1998, elimination after the group stage and round of 16 have always alternated. According to this logic, coach Hajime Moriyasu’s team in Qatar should start the return journey after the preliminary round, because in Russia in 2018 the “Samurai Blue” were eliminated by Belgium in the round of 16.
At the World Cup in Qatar, Japan will play in Group E against Germany, Spain and Costa Rica – and together with the Costa Ricans they are just outsiders. But the 2011 Asian champion enters the tournament with confidence, knowing full well that even heavyweights like the DFB team (2018) and the Spaniards (2014) have failed in the group stage in the past, even as reigning world champions.
Eight legionaries from Germany
But Japan’s goal for the World Cup goes beyond survival in the group stage and round of 16: “Our target is the quarter-finals. It won’t be easy, but our fans are with us. I’m sure we can do it “. said coach Hajime Moriyasu as he announced his 26-man squad for the World Cup in Tokyo. After three round of 16 appearances in 2002, 2010 and 2018, it would be the first World Cup quarter-final in Japanese football history.
To achieve this, Moriyasu has appointed a total of eight professionals under contract in Germany in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, including Eintracht Frankfurt’s Daichi Kamada, SC Freiburg’s Ritsu Doan and the Stuttgart duo Hiroki Ito and Wataru Endo. Overall, 20 of the 26 players in Japan’s World Cup squad are not playing at home but working abroad.
During qualifying for Qatar, the team’s particular strength lay in its defence. In the crucial third qualifying round, Moriyasu’s side conceded just four goals and recorded seven wins in ten matches. The World Cup ticket was finally booked with a win in the penultimate match in Australia.
“A Smith” in the door of Japan
“Japan is a team that is always there. They have a lot of players who play in the Bundesliga. That’s why they have a high quality,” said national team coach Hansi Flick after the World Cup draw, referring to the Bundesliga professionals Japanese. For the DFB team, which will meet the Japanese at the start on Wednesday (kick-off 14 CET), the challenge is clear: Hansi Flick’s team, which lately hasn’t always been convincing in attack, must find a recipe to break through the bulwark . In addition, there is the expected fighting spirit of the Japanese.
“Japan is a very unpleasant opponent for us. It would be fatal to underestimate this team. They fight from the first to the last second until they drop,” said Bernd Hollerbach of “Sport Bild”. Hollerbach knows his way around, after all he trains the Japanese national team goalkeeper with the more German name Daniel Schmidt at the Belgian club St. Truiden. Also among the posts against the DFB could be the son of a Japanese woman and an American with German ancestors.
Japanese virtues
Daichi Kamada will play a central role in Japan’s development and offensive play. The 26-year-old has been under contract with Eintracht Frankfurt since 2017 and, after winning the 2021/22 Europa League, celebrated one of the greatest successes in the club’s history with the Hessians, especially when they reached the last 16 in the Champions League League. In the decisive 2-1 away win in the last group game, Kamada scored a penalty to temporarily make it 1-1 at Sporting Lisbon.
Best players in Frankfurt and in the Japan national team: Daichi Kamada (l)
In addition to his technical prowess and goal scoring prowess, Kamada also exemplifies some of the other strengths of Japanese players. “Japanese professionals are incredibly disciplined, they work hard, they always work together, there is no opposition,” says Bernd Hollerbach. “No one is too bad to run for the other.”
Memories of Qatar
The Japanese already had good tournament experience in Qatar, albeit a long time ago: In 2011 the “Samurai Blue” won their third and so far last title at the Asian Championships in Qatar. But not all Japanese have fond memories of the desert emirate: in Doha, current coach Hajime Moriyasu failed for Japan in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup in 1993. A win against Iraq would have given the then midfielder and the his team the first World Cup ticket in the history of the Japanese soccer team, but Iraq drew 2-2 shortly before the end of the game.
National coach Hajime Moriyasu was on the field for Japan in Doha in 1993 when they failed to qualify for the World Cup
This “Doha tragedy” is still present in Japan today, but should not play a role in the return to Qatar. Doha as a venue would still be possible for the Japanese at the earliest in the quarterfinals. And with their first entry into the top eight, memories of the ‘Doha tragedy’ would have long since been erased.
