Mini football figure - Japan

Japan

The Japan national football team is the national football team of Japan. It is controlled by the Japan Football Association (JFA) and has been coached by Hajime Moriyasu since 2018. It has been one of the strongest teams in Asia since the early 1990s. It has won the Asian Football Championship four times so far, making it a record title holder.

In 1998, Japan qualified for the World Cup for the first time and has participated in every finals since then.

History

Although Japan was one of the first countries to play football as early as 1917, football remained a marginal sport and could not compete with the popular popular sport of baseball. Winning the bronze medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics did nothing to change this. It was not until 1991 that it was decided to transform the semi-professional Japan Soccer League into the professional J. League. On 15 May 1993, the first matches were kicked off there.

A year earlier, the Japanese national team had already won its first title at the 1992 Asian Football Championship in its own country. They won the final against two-time champions Saudi Arabia 1-0 with a goal by Takuya Takagi. The qualification for the 1994 World Cup in October 1993, however, was a setback: in the last qualifying match against Iraq, the Japanese team was forced to concede an equaliser in the 92nd minute of the match, leaving Saudi Arabia and South Korea in the dust. This event is still known today as the Doha tragedy. In the 1996 Asian Football Championship, the Japanese failed to defend their 1992 title.

1996-1998

Japan's first appearance in the World Cup came in 1998, when they finished second to South Korea in the decisive qualifying phase and had to play a play-off match against Iran, the runners-up in the other group. In Johor Bahru, Japan finally won 3:2 after a golden goal and thus qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France. However, they lost 1-0 to Argentina and Croatia and 2-1 to Jamaica. Masashi Nakayama scored Japan's first goal at a World Cup finals.

1998-2005

Japan won the Asian Cup again in 2000, again defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0. The goal was scored by Shigeyoshi Mochizuki.

Their greatest international success, however, came at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, when Philippe Troussier's team reached the last 16 after defeating Tunisia and Russia. However, they were eliminated after a 1-0 defeat by Turkey, who went on to win the World Cup. At the 2001 Confederations Cup, also previously hosted by Japan and South Korea, the Japanese reached the final, losing only to France 1-0.

Japan won their third Asian Cup title at the 2004 Asian Football Championship in China. China was defeated 3-1 in the final. At the 2005 Confederations Cup in Germany, Japan were eliminated in the preliminary round on goal difference against the Brazilians, despite a 1-0 win over European champions Greece and a 2-2 draw with world champions Brazil.

Since 2006

At the 2006 World Cup, Japan faced Australia, Croatia and Brazil in the preliminary round. In their first match against the Australians, Japan lost 3-1 with a lead in the 85th minute. A goalless draw against Croatia and another defeat against Brazil (1:4) were not enough to advance. After the World Cup, Ivica Osim took over the team from Brazilian Zico, who had been acting coach since 2002.

The team qualified for the 2007 Asian Football Championship with only one defeat (0:1 against Saudi Arabia in Jeddah). At the finals, the defending champions faced Vietnam, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. After winning their group, they beat Australia 5-4 on penalties in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, the Japanese then lost 2:3 to Saudi Arabia. The match for third place was also lost. South Korea won 6-5 on penalties (0-0 after normal time).

In the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, Japan had finished second in their group and faced Denmark, Cameroon and the Netherlands in the preliminary round. Victories over the higher-ranked teams from Denmark and Cameroon, with a loss to the Dutch, meant that the Japanese team qualified for a World Cup round of 16 for the first time outside Japan, where they met Paraguay and lost 5-3 on penalties after a goalless match.

In the 2011 Asian Cup, Japan won the title for the fourth time and is the sole record holder. Participation in the 2011 Copa América, to which Japan was invited as a guest, was cancelled after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and the resulting Fukushima nuclear disaster due to postponed league matches and problems with releasing players working for European clubs.

On 4 June 2013, Japan became the first team after hosts Brazil to qualify early for the 2014 World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Australia. However, at the World Cup finals, they failed to advance beyond the last place in Group C after defeats to Ivory Coast and Colombia and a goalless draw against Greece.

On Matchday 9 of the Asian qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, Japan qualified directly for the finals in Russia as Group B winners ahead of Saudi Arabia. At the World Cup finals, they played Poland, Senegal and Colombia in Group H. As second in the group behind Colombia, they beat Senegal on the basis of fair play. In the last 16, Japan lost 3-2 to Belgium despite leading 2-0.