World Cup 2006 Groups: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H

Group F Team Profiles: Brazil | Croatia | Australia | Japan

Japan

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Japan team kit

Japan and Japanese football have made great strides since the national team reached its first World Cup finals at France 1998. At the 2005 Confederations Cup, Japan drew with Brazil and beat Euro 2004 champions Greece with some ease. Japan are reigning Asian champions and qualified for Germany 2006 at the top of their group.

Japan's patient possession football and 3-5-2 system (though Zico has been experimenting with a 4-4-2 line-up the players seem not to like) can cause problems for even the top teams.

In Nakata, Ono, Nakamura and Inamoto, Japan possess a quality and experienced engine room, the problem is putting the ball in the net and performing against supposedly weaker teams.

Japan Matches

Match # Date & Time Group Teams Result Venue
12 Mon 12th Jun 15:00 F  AUS  JPN 3 - 1 Kaiserslautern
28 Sun 18th Jun 15:00 F  JPN  CRO 0 - 0 Nuremberg
43 Thu 22nd Jun 21:00 F  JPN  BRA 1 - 4 Dortmund

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

Key Players

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Squad

Total World Cup 2006
# Posn Name DOB Club Caps Goals Pld Goals OG YC RC
1 GK Narazaki Seigo 15-04-1976 Nagoya Grampus Eight JPN 50 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 DF Moniwa Teruyuki 08-09-1981 FC Tokyo JPN 10 1 1 0 0 1 0
3 DF Komano Yuichi 25-07-1981 Sanfrecce Hiroshima JPN 10 0 1 0 0 0 0
4 MF Endo Yasuhito 28-01-1980 Gamba Osaka JPN 40 3 0 0 0 0 0
5 DF Miyamoto Tsuneyasu 07-02-1977 Gamba Osaka JPN 72 3 2 0 0 2 0
6 DF Nakata Koji 09-07-1979 Basel SUI 56 2 1 0 0 0 0
7 MF Nakata Hidetoshi 22-01-1977 Bolton Wanderers ENG 78 11 3 0 0 0 0
8 MF Ogasawara Mitsuo 05-04-1979 Kashima Antlers JPN 53 7 2 0 0 0 0
9 FW Takahara Naohiro 04-06-1979 Hamburger SV GER 45 17 3 0 0 1 0
10 MF Nakamura Shunsuke 24-06-1978 Celtic SCO 64 17 3 1 0 0 0
11 FW Maki Seiichiro 07-08-1980 JEF United Chiba JPN 11 3 1 0 0 0 0
12 GK Doi Yoichi 25-07-1973 FC Tokyo JPN 4 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 FW Yanagisawa Atsushi 27-05-1977 Kashima Antlers JPN 59 17 2 0 0 0 0
14 DF Santos Alessandro 20-07-1977 Urawa Reds JPN 76 5 3 0 0 1 0
15 MF Fukunishi Takashi 01-09-1976 Jubilo Iwata JPN 65 7 2 0 0 0 0
16 FW Oguro Masashi 04-05-1980 Grenoble FRA 22 5 3 0 0 0 0
17 MF Inamoto Junichi 18-09-1979 West Bromwich Albion ENG 65 4 2 0 0 0 0
18 MF Ono Shinji 27-09-1979 Urawa Reds JPN 56 6 1 0 0 0 0
19 DF Tsuboi Keisuke 16-09-1979 Urawa Reds JPN 36 0 2 0 0 0 0
20 FW Tamada Keiji 11-04-1980 Nagoya Grampus Eight JPN 41 9 2 1 0 0 0
21 DF Kaji Akira 13-01-1980 Gamba Osaka JPN 45 1 2 0 0 1 0
22 DF Nakazawa Yuji 25-02-1978 Yokohama F Marinos JPN 54 9 3 0 0 0 0
23 GK Kawaguchi Yoshikatsu 15-08-1975 Jubilo Iwata JPN 93 0 3 0 0 1 0