2010 FIFA World Cup - Japan
2010 FIFA World Cup - Japan National Team
2010 FIFA World Cup Japan National Team:
Goalkeepers:
1 Seigo NARAZAKI, 21 Eiji KAWASHIMA and
23 Yoshikatsu KAWAGUCHI
Defenders:
3 Yuichi KOMANO, 4 Marcus Tulio TANAKA, 5 Yuto NAGATOMO, 6 Atsuto UCHIDA, 13 Daiki IWAMASA,
15 Yasuyuki KONNO and 22 Yuji NAKAZAWA
Midfielders:
2 Yuki ABE, 7 Yasuhito ENDO, 8 Daisuke MATSUI, 10 Shunsuke NAKAMURA, 14 Kengo NAKAMURA,
17 Makoto HASEBE, 18 Keisuke HONDA and 20 Junichi INAMOTO
Forwards:
9 Shinji OKAZAKI, 11 Keiji TAMADA, 12 Kisho YANO, 16 Yoshito OKUBO and 19 Takayuki MORIMOTO
Coach:
Takeshi OKADA
Top Players Shunsuke Nakamura (JPN) and Keisuke Honda (JPN).
2010 FIFA World Cup Schedule & Scores
The star players
Japan's biggest star is former Celtic playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura, who in the summer 2009 made the switch from Glasgow to La Liga with Espanyol. Another European-based performer is young midfielder Keisuke Honda, at Eredivisie outfit VVV Venlo and like Nakamura a gifted left-footer. Leading from the back is 31-year-old defensive rock and captain Yuji Nakazawa, who with over 90 senior caps to his name is Japan's third-most capped player of all time.
The coach
National supremo Okada is widely considered to be one of the finest Japanese strategists around. He was at
the helm during the Samurai Blue's first FIFA World Cup appearance at France 1998, having successfully negotiated
a tricky play-off meeting with Iran, and later enjoyed spells at club level with Consadole Sapporo and
Yokohama F Marinos.
The 53-year-old former international defender's time in Sapporo included taking the team from the second division
into the top flight, while the tactician led Marinos to successive J.League titles in 2003 and 2004. Having
stepped away from his role in Yokohama in 2006, he picked up the reins of the national team for a second time a
year later - following the stroke suffered by previous incumbent Ivica Osim.
Previous FIFA World Cups
South Africa 2010 will be Japan's fourth FIFA World Cup finals, and their fourth in a row. Their best finish came as hosts at Korea/Japan 2002, when they topped Group H ahead of Belgium, Russia and Tunisia to advance to the knockout stages for the first and so far only time. Once in the Round of 16 they put in a brave fight only to go down 1-0 against eventual third-place finishers Turkey, the goal coming after 12 minutes from Umit Davala.
Records
At his first finals as Japan coach, back at France 1998, Okada's charges lost each of their three group games,
scoring once and conceding four times in the process.
Masashi Nakayama scored Japan's first ever FIFA World Cup finals goal, netting in the 74th minute of the 2-1 reverse
against Jamaicaon French soil.
Japan - 2010 FIFA World Cup
2010 - Japan
The outsiders Back in the Japan dugout after leading the side at France 1998, Takeshi Okada had to rebuild
the side and bring through a new generation of players. Through to the main event for the fourth time, the Samurai
Blue travel as winners of three of the last five editions of the AFC Asian Cup, and they proved in qualifying that
they can harbour serious hopes of progression to the Round of 16. Eliminated after the group stage in 2006, Japan
will look to two players tasting success in Europe to improve on that showing in South Africa: Shunsuke Nakamura and
youngster Keisuke Honda.