Football World Cup 2014 / Japan

This article covers the Japanese national soccer team at the 2014 World Cup . Japan took part in the finals for the fifth time and in a finals in South America for the first time , but failed to make the knockout round.

qualification

Japan played in the AFC qualifiers . Together with Australia, Bahrain, North and South Korea, Japan did not have to compete until the third qualifying round. The team prevailed in Group C against North Korea and Tajikistan and qualified for the fourth round as second behind Uzbekistan . Japan was able to improve in the fourth round, especially since Keisuke Honda was able to play again after his knee injury. He also played a decisive role in the early qualification: On June 4, 2013, he converted a penalty in the first minute of stoppage time against Australia to make it 1-1, making Japan the first country to qualify for the World Cup alongside hosts Brazil. Australia could also qualify as runners-up 14 days later. The group third Jordan then prevailed against the Uzbeks in the fifth round, but then failed in the intercontinental comparisons to Uruguay.

Third round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Uzbekistan	6th	5	1	0	008: 100	+7	16
2.	Japan	6th	3	1	2	014: 300	+11	10
3.	North Korea	6th	2	1	3	003: 400	−1	07th
4th	Tajikistan	6th	0	1	5	001:180	−17	01

Game results

date	place	Home team	-	guest	Result	Goal scorers for Japan
02.09.2011	Saitama	Japan	-	North Korea	1: 0 (0: 0)	Yoshida (90th + 4)
09/06/2011	Tashkent ( UZB )	Uzbekistan	-	Japan	1: 1 (1: 0)	Okazaki (65.)
10/11/2011	Osaka	Japan	-	Tajikistan	8: 0 (4: 0)	Havenaar (11th, 47th), Okazaki (19th, 74th), Komano (35th), Kagawa (41st, 68th), Nakamura (56th)
11/11/2011	Dushanbe ( TJK )	Tajikistan	-	Japan	0: 4 (0: 1)	Konno (36th), Okazaki (61st, 90th + 2), Maeda (82nd)
11/15/2011	Pyongyang ( PRK )	North Korea	-	Japan	1: 0 (0: 0)
02/29/2012	Toyota	Japan	-	Uzbekistan	0: 1 (0: 0)

Fourth round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Japan	8th	5	2	1	016: 500	+11	17th
2.	Australia	8th	3	4th	1	012: 700	+5	13
3.	Jordan	8th	3	1	4th	007:160	−9	10
4th	Oman	8th	2	3	3	007:100	−3	09
5.	Iraq	8th	1	2	5	004: 800	−4	05

Game results

date	place	Home team	-	guest	Result	Goal scorers for Japan
06/03/2012	Saitama	Japan	-	Oman	3: 0 (1: 0)	Honda (11th), Maeda (51st), Okazaki (54th)
06/08/2012	Saitama	Japan	-	Jordan	6: 0 (4: 0)	Maeda (18th), Honda (22nd, 31st, 53rd / Elfm.), Kagawa (35th), Kurihara (89th)
06/12/2012	Brisbane ( AUS )	Australia	-	Japan	1: 1 (0: 0)	Kurihara (65.)
09/11/2012	Saitama	Japan	-	Iraq	1: 0 (1: 0)	Maeda (25.)
11/14/2012	Muscat ( OMA )	Oman	-	Japan	1: 2 (0: 1)	Kiyotake (20th), Okazaki (90th)
03/26/2013	Amman ( JOR )	Jordan	-	Japan	2: 1 (1: 0)	Kagawa (69.)
06/04/2013	Saitama	Japan	-	Australia	1: 1 (0: 0)	Honda (90th + 1st / 11th)
06/11/2013	Doha ( QAT )	Iraq	-	Japan	0: 1 (0: 0)	Okazaki (89.)

Overall, Alberto Zaccheroni , who took over as coach in Japan after the 2010 World Cup, played 28 players in the 14 games. Only Shinji Okazaki , who is active in the Bundesliga, took part in all the games. With 8 goals he was also the best Japanese goalscorer and thus the best goalscorer of the AFC qualification.

preparation

Test matches:

• 0March 5th in Tokyo against New Zealand : 4-2 (scorers for Japan: Okazaki / 4th and 17th, Kagawa / 8th and Morishige / 11th)
• May 27 in Saitama for the first time against Cyprus : 1-0 (goalscorer: Uchida / 42.)
• 0June 2 in Tampa against Costa Rica : 3: 1 (goal scorers for Japan: Endō / 60., Kagawa / 80. And Kakitani / 90.)
• 06 June in Tampa against Zambia for the first time : 4: 3 (goalscorers for Japan: Honda / 40th (Penalty) and 75th, Kagawa / 73rd and Okubo / 90th)

Squad

A preliminary list of 30 players had to be submitted to FIFA by May 13, 2014. The final list of 23 players had to be received by FIFA by June 2, 2014 at the latest.

The squad was named on May 12, 2014. 11 players from the provisional squad were already in the squad for the last World Cup when Japan were eliminated in the round of 16. The most experienced player was the record national player Yasuhito Endo , who was also the field player with the most international matches at the World Cup.

No.	player	Club before the start of the World Cup	International matches	Länderspiel- gates	birthday	Games	Gates				World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2014)	World Cup goals (before 2014)
goalkeeper
23	Shuichi Gonda	FC Tokyo	002	00	March 3, 1989	0	0	0	0	0
01	Eiji Kawashima	Standard Liège M	056	00	March 20, 1983	3	0	0	0	0	2010	4th	0
12	Shūsaku Nishikawa	Urawa Red Diamonds	013	00	June 18, 1986	0	0	0	0	0
Defense
19th	Masahiko Inoha	Júbilo Iwata *	021st	01	August 28, 1985	0	0	0	0	0
15th	Yasuyuki Konno	Gamba Osaka	081	01	January 25, 1983	2	0	1	0	0	2010	1	0
06th	Masato Morishige	FC Tokyo	010	01	May 21, 1987	1	0	1	0	0
05	Yūto Nagatomo	Inter Milan	070	03	September 12, 1986	3	0	0	0	0	2010	4th	0
03	Gotoku Sakai	VfB Stuttgart	012	00	March 14, 1991	0	0	0	0	0
21st	Hiroki Sakai	Hannover 96	018th	00	April 12, 1990	0	0	0	0	0
02	Atsuto Uchida	FC Schalke 04	068	02	March 27, 1988	3	0	0	0	0	2010	0	0
22nd	Maya Yoshida	Southampton FC	041	02	August 24, 1988	3	0	1	0	0
midfield
14th	Toshihiro Aoyama	Sanfrecce Hiroshima M *	006th	00	February 22, 1986	1	0	0	0	0
07th	Yasuhito Endo	Gamba Osaka	144	13	January 28, 1980	2	0	0	0	0	2010	4th	1
17th	Makoto Hasebe	1. FC Nuremberg A	078	02	January 18, 1984	3	0	1	0	0	2010	4th	0
16	Hotaru Yamaguchi	Cerezo Osaka	012	00	October 6, 1990	3	0	0	0	0
attack
04th	Keisuke Honda	AC Milan	056	22nd	June 13, 1986	3	1	0	0	0	2010	4th	2
10	Shinji Kagawa	Manchester United	057	19th	March 17, 1989	3	0	0	0	0
11	Yōichirō Kakitani	Cerezo Osaka	012	05	January 3, 1990	2	0	0	0	0
08th	Hiroshi Kiyotake	1. FC Nuremberg A	025th	01	November 12, 1989	1	0	0	0	0
09	Shinji Okazaki	1. FSV Mainz 05	076	38	April 16, 1986	3	1	0	0	0	2010	4th	1
13	Yoshito Ōkubo	Kawasaki Frontale	057	06th	June 9, 1982	3	0	0	0	0	2010	4th	0
18th	Yūya Ōsako	TSV 1860 Munich *	009	03	May 18, 1990	2	0	0	0	0
20th	Manabu Saitō	Yokohama Marinos P *	005	01	April 4, 1990	0	0	0	0	0
Coaching staff
	Alberto Zaccheroni	Trainer			April 1, 1953		3
	Stefano Agresti	Assistant coach			March 12, 1956
	Maurizio Guido	Goalkeeping coach			April 26, 1957
	Eugenio Albarella	Fitness trainer			August 15, 1965

1. ↑ E = The club was the Europa League winner in the 2013/14 season , M = The club was the champion of its country in the 2013/14 season, M * = The club was the champion of its country in the 2013 season (the current season still running), A = The club was relegated from the highest league in the country, P * = The club won the cup in the 2013 season (the next cup competition begins after the World Cup), * = The club plays in the second highest league in its country.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Status: June 6, 2014 after the game against Zambia

Finals

Group stage

Cuiabá Recife natal Itu

Venues (red) and quarters (blue)

In the draw for the final round on December 6, 2013, Japan was drawn into the seemingly easy group C with Colombia (group head) and the Ivory Coast. There was only one group game against Greece at the 2005 Confederations Cup , which they won 1-0. At the Confederations Cup in 2003 , the first game against Colombia took place, which ended 0-1. A friendly match on June 5, 2007 in Saitama ended goalless. Before the World Cup, Japan had only played three friendly matches against Ivory Coast (2 wins, 1 loss). In Recife , Japan played in the Confederations Cup 2013 against Italy (3: 4) on June 19, 2013 - Japan had not played in the other two venues before the World Cup.

The team headquarters and training facility was the Spa Sport Resort in Itu .

rank	country	Gates	Points
1	Colombia	9: 2	9
2	Greece	2: 4	4th
3	Ivory Coast	4: 5	3
4th	Japan	2: 6	1

• Sat., June 14, 2014, 10:00 pm (3:00 am CEST) in Recife Ivory Coast - Japan 2: 1 (0: 1)
  
• Thursday, June 19, 2014, 7:00 p.m. (12:00 p.m. CEST) in Natal Japan - Greece 0: 0
  
• Tue., June 24, 2014, 4:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. CEST) in Cuiabá Japan - Colombia 1: 4 (1: 1)
  

Sports impact

In the FIFA world rankings , Japan climbed from 46th to 45th place despite the preliminary round and the associated loss of 22 points, making them the best-placed Asian team.

Resignations

After the preliminary round, coach Alberto Zaccheroni resigned and was succeeded by the Mexican Javier Aguirre , who only stayed in office until February 2015.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On September 23, 2011, FIFA announced that Iraq would have to play its home games in a neutral location in Asia. ( Iraq must find neutral venue. In: fifa.com. FIFA, September 23rd 2011, Retrieved on October 16, 2013 .  )
2. ↑ Regulations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup ™, para. 29 List of players, rest time, preparatory phase
3. ↑ kicker.de: Zaccheroni is building on the Bundesliga seven in one go - but Hosogai is missing
4. ↑ fifa.com: team quarters
5. ↑ fifa.com: "World Champion Germany takes over the top position"

Web links

• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance
• All qualifiers of Japan