Japan must focus on positives ahead of World Cup qualifiers, Endo says

SAITAMA, Japan: Japan were stung by their quarter-final exit at the Asian Cup earlier this year but midfielder Wataru Endo says they must not dwell on that setback and instead go into 2026 World Cup qualifiers against China and Bahrain with a positive mindset.

Japan host China at Saitama Stadium on Thursday as the third round of qualifying gets underway, seeking to bounce back from the Asian Cup in Qatar where defeat to Iran ended their hopes of a record-extending fifth title.

While Japan are strong favourites to finish in the top two in Group C, which also features Australia, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, Endo said they are taking nothing for granted. “The Asian qualifiers are not easy games, we found that out at the Asian Cup,” he said.

“The Asian qualifiers will be a long journey and there will be tough games along the way. “But we don’t want to think about the negative things in the past. We have to think about the more positive things. We can play as a team and overcome these difficulties as well,” the Liverpool player added.

Should Japan, who are attempting to qualify for an eighth consecutive World Cup, fail to land one of the two automatic spots from Group C, finishing third or fourth would extend their campaign into another round of preliminaries.

Japan have a track record of starting slowly at this stage and were beaten 1-0 by Branko Ivankovic’s Oman in their first game of the final round of qualifiers for Qatar 2022. The Croatian will be in the opposing dugout on Thursday after his appointment by the Chinese earlier this year and Endo is wary of the wily 70-year-old, who also masterminded a win over the Japanese when in charge of Iran in 2005.

“He knows how to play against Japan,” said Endo. “He knows how to analyse us and has good tactics against Japan as we’ve seen from past games. “For me, I need to manage the risks coming from the attacking players of the Chinese team and I know they have some tall and strong players that we need to take care of as well.”