Confident Japan eye World Cup history after impressive year

TOKYO: Japan have set themselves the ambitious target of winning next year’s World Cup and coach Hajime Moriyasu believes they are making big strides in the right direction heading into 2026.

The four-time Asian champions have never gone past the last 16 at a World Cup but a strong squad of Europe-based players and impressive recent results have convinced the coach that they can make history in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Japan beat Brazil for the first time in October and followed that up with convincing wins over Ghana and Bolivia to end the year on a high. Moriyasu celebrated his 100th game in charge in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Bolivia in Tokyo and thinks his team is shaping up nicely.

“Of course it’s important to win when we’re on top but the players showed tonight that we can win even when things aren’t going our way, which builds confidence,” he said. “I changed seven players from the team that started against Ghana and we showed that we can still win and function effectively regardless of who plays.”

Japan stunned Germany and Spain at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar before losing on penalties to Croatia in the last 16. They were the first team to punch their ticket to next year’s tournament and their only defeat in Asian qualifying came after they had secured their spot.

They have not had things all their own way this year, and a 0-0 draw with Mexico and a 2-0 loss to the United States in September showed there was still work to be done.

But they impressed in coming back from two goals down to beat Brazil 3-2 and looked assured in defence in keeping clean sheets against both Ghana and Bolivia. “I think the players have improved their ability to express the team’s playing style in both attack and defence,” said Moriyasu.

“The fact that we’ve been able to spend a lot of time together over the past three months has increased our shared understanding.” Crystal Palace’s Daichi Kamada has played a key role this year along with Eintracht Frankfurt’s Ritsu Doan, Feyenoord striker Ayase Ueda and Real Sociedad attacker Takefusa Kubo.

Wataru Endo has done his part as captain, despite getting little playing time at Premier League champions Liverpool. Goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, meanwhile, has emerged as a steady presence after enduring a torrid time at last year’s Asian Cup.

Brighton winger Kaoru Mitoma has featured little as he struggles with injury, while former Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu has barely played any football at all for the past two years.

Tomiyasu is still without a club after leaving the Gunners in July to focus on his rehabilitation from injury, but Moriyasu said this week that he is confident he will return in time for the World Cup.

Japan have only one more international window before Moriyasu has to pick his World Cup squad, and it has been reported that a March trip to play England at Wembley could be on the cards.

The coach said that he will likely wait until the last minute before finalising his squad, and urged his players to make the most of their time.

“We finished the year with consecutive wins but I want the players to go back to their clubs now and keep trying to raise their level,” he said. “You can be sure that other teams will be analysing us so we need to keep improving our tactics and playing style so that we can outsmart them.”