Football World Cup 1998 / Japan

This article covers the Japanese national soccer team at the 1998 World Cup .

qualification

First round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Japan	31: 1	16
2	Oman	14: 2	13
3	Macau	3:28	4th
4th	Nepal	2:19	1

Oman	-	Japan	0: 1
Macau	-	Japan	0:10
Nepal	-	Japan	0: 6
Japan	-	Macau	10-0
Japan	-	Nepal	3-0
Japan	-	Oman	1: 1

Final round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	South Korea	19: 7	19th
2	Japan	17: 9	13
3	UAE	9:12	9
4th	Uzbekistan	13:18	6th
5	Kazakhstan	7:19	6th

Japan	-	Uzbekistan	6: 3
UAE	-	Japan	0-0
Japan	-	South Korea	1: 2
Kazakhstan	-	Japan	1: 1
Uzbekistan	-	Japan	1: 1
Japan	-	UAE	1: 1
South Korea	-	Japan	0: 2
Japan	-	Kazakhstan	5: 1

AFC playoff

Iran

-

Japan

2: 3

Japanese contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Nobuyuki Kojima	Bellmare Hiratsuka	January 17, 1966	0	0	0	0
20th	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	Yokohama F. Marinos	08/15/1975	3	0	0	0
21st	Seigō Narazaki	Yokohama wing	04/15/1976	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Akira Narahashi	Kashima Antlers	11/26/1971	3	0	0	0
3	Naoki Sōma	Kashima Antlers	07/19/1971	3	0	0	0
4th	Masami Ihara	Yokohama F. Marinos	September 18, 1967	3	0	1	0
5	Norio Omura	Yokohama F. Marinos	09/06/1969	1	0	0	0
16	Toshihide Saitō	Shimizu S-Pulse	04/20/1973	0	0	0	0
17th	Yutaka Akita	Kashima Antlers	08/06/1970	3	0	1	0
19th	Eisuke Nakanishi	JEF United Ichihara	06/23/1973	2	0	2	0
midfield player
6th	Motohiro Yamaguchi	Yokohama wing	01/29/1969	3	0	1	0
7th	Teruyoshi Itō	Shimizu S-Pulse	08/31/1974	0	0	0	0
8th	Hidetoshi Nakata	Bellmare Hiratsuka	01/22/1977	3	0	0	0
10	Hiroshi Nanami	Júbilo Iwata	11/28/1972	3	0	1	0
11	Shinji Ono	Urawa Red Diamonds	09/27/1979	1	0	0	0
13	Toshihiro Hattori	Júbilo Iwata	09/23/1973	0	0	0	0
15th	Hiroaki Morishima	Cerezo Osaka	04/30/1972	0	0	0	0
22nd	Takashi Hirano	Nagoya Grampus Eight	07/15/1974	2	0	1	0
striker
9	Masashi Nakayama	Júbilo Iwata	09/23/1967	3	1	0	0
12	Wagner Lopes	Bellmare Hiratsuka	01/29/1969	3	0	0	0
14th	Masayuki Okano	Urawa Red Diamonds	07/25/1972	1	0	0	0
18th	Shōji Jō	Yokohama F. Marinos	06/17/1975	3	0	0	0
Trainer
	Takeshi Okada		08/25/1956

Japanese team games

Preliminary round

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Argentina	7-0	9
2	Croatia	4: 2	6th
3	Jamaica	3: 9	3
4th	Japan	1: 4	0

• Argentina - Japan 1: 0 (1: 0)

Stadium: Stade de Toulouse ( Toulouse )

Spectators: 33,400

Referee: Mario van der Ende ( Netherlands )

Goals: 1-0 Batistuta (28th)

• Japan - Croatia 0: 1 (0: 0)

Stadium: Stade de la Beaujoire ( Nantes )

Spectators: 35,500

Referee: Ramesh Ramdhan ( Trinidad and Tobago )

Goals: 0: 1 Šuker (77.)

• Japan - Jamaica 1: 2 (0: 1)

Stadium: Stade Gerland ( Lyon )

Spectators: 39,100

Referee: Günter Benkö ( Austria )

Goals: 0-1 Whitmore (39th), 0-2 Whitmore (54th), 1: 2 Nakayama (74th)

In Group H the picture was very clear. Argentina and Croatia were the clear favorites for the first two places. The two newcomers to the World Cup, Japan and Jamaica, were hardly given a chance. So it was no surprise that after 6 games Argentina and Croatia were in the round of 16 after, among other things, Argentina's star striker Gabriel Batistuta had outclassed the Jamaican back team by scoring a flawless hat trick within 10 minutes. Nevertheless, the Jamaican team and their fans, who celebrated every game like a reggae concert, brought plenty of color to the World Cup.