FIFA World Cup 2018: All you need to know about the team Japan

World Cup 2018 is about to kick off, and Japan is ready to remove the mark of underdogs from their head. The crisis-hit Japan would try to shun early exit from the tournament, as far as they qualified for the world cup the Samurai Blues have tied their passion with the legs and will try to catch the Jules Rimet soon for their country.

WORLD CUP HISTORY:

Ever since Japan Qualified for the World cup, they have appeared twice in the last sixteen of 2002 and 2010 edition of the tournament. Till the date, Japan is still struggling to snatch a big victory in the World Cup.

FULL SQUAD:

Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima, Masaaki Higashiguchi, Kosuke Nakamura.

Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Wataru Endo, Maya Yoshida, Hiroki Sakai, Gotoku Sakai, Gen Shoji, Naomichi Ueda.

Midfielders: Makoto Hasebe, Keisuke Honda, Takashi Inui, Shinji Kagawa, Hotaru Yamaguchi, Genki Haraguchi, Takashi Usami, Gaku Shibasaki, Ryota Oshima.

Forwards: Shinji Okazaki, Yuya Osako, Yoshinori Muto.

Manager: Vahid Halillhodzic

Vahid considered as the best Yugoslav players in the early 70’s and late 80’s. In his senior career, he played for Velez, Neretva, Nantes, and Paris- Saint- Germain. Later on, he retired from football and started managing the teams like Velez, Beauvais, Raja Casablanca, Lille, Rennes, Paris-Saint-Germain, Trabzonspor, Ittihad Jeddah, Cote d’Ivoire, Dinamo Zagreb, Algeria, Trabzonspor, Japan.

PROBABLE PLAYING XI:

Goalkeeper: E.Kawashima

Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Gotoku Sakai

Centre Back: Ryota Oshima, Makoto Hasebe

Midfielders: Takashi Usami, Keisuke Honda, Genki Haraguchi

Forward: Yuya Osako

KEY PLAYER: Keisuke Honda

Honda is an Attacking Mid-fielder playing for Japan from 2008 where he appeared in 94 matches and scored 36 goals. Honda also scored one victory goal against Denmark in 2010 world cup which led them to the knockout stage of the tournament. Honda managed to get “Man of the Match Award” in that game too.

GROUP H-TV SCHEDULE

Tuesday, June 19

Colombia vs. Japan, 5:30 P.M. (Sony Six)

Poland vs. Senegal, 8:30 PM (Sony Six)

Sunday, June 24

Japan vs. Senegal, 8:30 P.M (Sony Six)

Poland vs. Colombia, 11:30 P.M (Sony Six)

Thursday, June 28

Japan vs. Poland, 7:30 P.M (Sony Six)

Colombia vs. Senegal, 7:30 P.M (Sony Six)

INTERESTING TIDBIT: Japan hosted the 2002 world cup successfully alongside South Korea. The FIFA committee awarded the hosting to both the nations as three countries were interested in hosting the tournament; South Korea, Japan, Mexico but the committee had given the opportunity to the Asian country.

Also Read: FIFA 2018: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE TEAM POLAND

PROBABILITY OF WINNING THE WORLD CUP:

Bet 365

5/1

Odds portal

1.71