Japan first burst onto the football scene during the 1968 Olympics when their side won a bronze medal. However, they didn’t have a professional league until the J League took off in 1993. As a result, Japan did not even attempt to qualify for the World Cup until the 1994 campaign. They failed to make it on that occasion but they have represented Asia in every tournament since, with the 2010 edition being their fourth World Cup.
They narrowly failed to make the 1994 tournament after failing to beat Iraq in their last match in what was known as the ‘Agony of Doha’. They made up for it by making the 1998 competition but it was a disaster as they lost all three group matches. They co-hosted the World Cup with South Korea in 2002, where they made the last 16 after two fine wins over Russia and Tunisia. Their run was ended by a 1-0 second round defeat to Turkey. Their last World Cup didn’t go particularly well either as they were hammered 4-1 by Brazil and comfortably beaten 3-1 by Australia to once again exit at the first round stage.
As has been the case for the last few qualifying campaigns, Japan’s route to the World Cup was smooth sailing. As top seeds, they were able to avoid all the energy-sapping preliminary rounds and were straight through to the third round. In this group they easily qualified ahead of Bahrain who joined them in the final group stage. Here, the final table is misleading as it shows them finishing well behind Australia. Japan were actually the first side to qualify for the World Cup after the host nation. This was achieved with a 1-0 away win against Uzbekistan.
Japan have been drawn with Holland, Cameroon and Denmark in their group and will not be fancied to make the knockout stage, particularly when one takes into account their previous tournaments. Realistically, they need a positive result against Cameroon in their opening match to have a chance of progression. Many of their players compete in the J League with only a few trying their luck in Europe. Playmaker Shunsake Nakamura had some success with Glasgow Celtic in Scotland, but has returned to play for Yokohama F. Marinos. Their only other player that football fans may have heard of is Wolfsburg’s midfielder Makoto Hasebe. It is a tall order for this Japanese squad to make it out of their group but they will aim to gain the respect of the world in this tournament.