JAPAN

Appearances: 5

Best finish: Round of 16 — 2002, 2010 Manager: Akira Nishino

Star player: Maya Yoshida

Japan are one of the most successful teams in Asia, having qualified for the last six consecutive Fifa World Cups with second round advancements in 2002 and 2010. They are also the undisputed kings of Asian football having won the AFC Asian Cup a record four times — in 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2011. The team has also finished second in the Fifa Confederations Cup, a feat that they achieved way back in 2001. While Japan have basked in the glory of their achievements, over the past few years teams like South Korea and Australia have joined in to challenge their supremacy.

Prior to the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia, Japan have appeared in the finals of the global football spectacle on five occasions, with their debut coming in 1998 where they lost all three group games and finished in 31st place of the 32 teams competing. Masashi Nakayama scored Japan’s first-ever goal in a World Cup Finals against Jamaica on June 26, 1998 in a 2-1 defeat.

Yet another feather in their cap is that Japan’s the only team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa America after being invited in 1999 and 2011. Although they initially accepted the invitation for the 2011 tournament, the Japan Football Association (JFA) later withdrew following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Currently coached by Akira Nishino, the Samurai Blue have traditionally preferred a possession-based style. However, former coach Vahid Halilhodzic demanded otherwise and got his side to play on the counter-attack. These drastic tactics saw a dip in form of the Japanese and two of the biggest stars, Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa, had to be dropped from the squad after they failed to fit into this new philosophy.

I think the last 16 is a realistic goal. But ideally, I’d like us to get to the quarter-finals, a stage we’ve never reached before.” Maya Yoshida | Japan star