Soccer World Cup 2002 / Japan

This article covers the Japanese national team at the 2002 World Cup .

qualification

As the host, Japan qualified directly for the World Cup finals.

Japanese contingent

No.	Surname	Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Games	Gates
goalkeeper
1	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	Portsmouth FC	08/15/1975	0	0	0	0	0
12	Seigō Narazaki	Nagoya Grampus Eight	04/15/1976	4th	0	0	0	0
23	Hitoshi Sogahata	Kashima Antlers	08/02/1979	0	0	0	0	0
Defender
2	Yutaka Akita	Kashima Antlers	08/06/1970	0	0	0	0	0
3	Naoki Matsuda	Yokohama F. Marinos	03/14/1977	4th	0	0	0	0
4th	Ryūzō Morioka	Shimizu S-Pulse	07/10/1975	1	0	0	0	0
6th	Toshihiro Hattori	Júbilo Iwata	09/23/1973	1	0	0	0	0
16	Kōji Nakata	Kashima Antlers	07/09/1979	4th	0	0	0	0
17th	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto	Gamba Osaka	02/07/1977	4th	0	1	0	0
22nd	Daisuke Ichikawa	Shimizu S-Pulse	May 14, 1980	3	0	0	0	0
midfield player
5	Junichi Inamoto	Arsenal FC	09/18/1979	4th	2	1	0	0
7th	Hidetoshi Nakata	AC Parma	01/22/1977	4th	1	1	0	0
8th	Hiroaki Morishima	Cerezo Osaka	04/30/1972	3	1	0	0	0
14th	Alex	Shimizu S-Pulse	07/20/1977	2	0	0	0	0
15th	Takashi Fukunishi	Júbilo Iwata	09/01/1976	1	0	0	0	0
18th	Shinji Ono	Feyenoord Rotterdam	09/27/1979	4th	0	0	0	0
19th	Mitsuo Ogasawara	Kashima Antlers	04/05/1979	1	0	0	0	0
20th	Tomokazu Myōjin	Kashiwa Reysol	01/24/1978	3	0	0	0	0
21st	Kazuyuki Toda	Shimizu S-Pulse	12/30/1977	4th	0	2	0	0
striker
9	Akinori Nishizawa	Cerezo Osaka	06/18/1976	1	0	0	0	0
10	Masashi Nakayama	Júbilo Iwata	09/23/1967	1	0	1	0	0
11	Takayuki Suzuki	Kashima Antlers	06/05/1976	4th	1	0	0	0
13	Atsushi Yanagisawa	Kashima Antlers	05/27/1977	3	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Philippe Troussier		03/21/1955

Preliminary round

Japan was the host for the preliminary group draw. Opponents like Brazil, Argentina or France did not pose any immediate threat.

In the first game Japan had to play against Belgium. After the Europeans had long been superior in the field and deservedly took the lead with a goal from Marc Wilmots , the Japanese put the insecure Belgian defense under massive pressure in a determined attack. The game ended in a draw.

In the second game Japan finally got their first victory in a World Cup finals. Russia, the favorite to win the group, were beaten 1-0. In the last game, they achieved first place in Group H with a 2-0 victory over outsiders Tunisia.

Japan	-	Belgium		2: 2
Japan	-	Russia		1-0
Tunisia	-	Japan		0: 2

Round of 16

In the round of 16, Japan fell behind against Turkey early on. Despite the field superiority and a corner ratio of 8 to 4, one could not equalize against the massed Turkish defense. One of the two hosts was thus eliminated from the tournament.

Japan

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Turkey

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