Japan crashed out of the last World Cup at the Round of 16. The Samurai Blue lost at the hands of South American side, Paraguay, Japan was eliminated via a penalty shootout loss. This article will look into how this Japan side will do at the World Cup and also assess their talented side.
Goalkeepers
Japan will most probably start with Standard Liege goalkeeper, Eiji Kawashima, the veteran goalkeeper has made 53 appearances for his country and will have the best chance of starting due to playing in Europe.
As backup keepers, the Japanse side have Uwawa Red Diamonds keeper,Shusaku Nishikawa who has made 12 appearances and also Shūichi Gonda who plies his trade at FC Tokyo.
Defenders
The Japanese defence consists of: Yasuyuki Konno,Yūto Nagatomo,Atsuto Uchida, Maya Yoshida, Masahiko Inoha, Júbilo Iwata, Hiroki Sakai, Gōtoku Sakai, Masato Morishige.
The defenders to pick out this bunch of players will be Nagatomo of Inter Milan and also Uchida of Schalke. Uchida has played in the Bundesliga for the past few years so he will add a wealth of experience coming from right-back. He has real pace and also a tenacious tackle. Nagatomo of Inter Milan is similar sort of player but he operates at left-back, he has deadly pace and a superb cross.
Midfielders
The Japanese defence consists of: Yasuhito Endō,Makoto Hasebe, Hotaru Yamaguchi and Toshihiro Aoyama. The player to pick out is FC Nurnberg’s Has be, playing in the German top flight will really inject some experience into the Japanese midfield, the ex-Wolfsburg man made 13 appearances in the Bundesliga this campaign.
Forwards
The Japanese strike force consist of: Shinji Okazaki, Shinji Kagawa, Yoshito Ōkubo, Keisuke Honda, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Yoichiro Kakitani , Yūya Ōsako, and Manabu Saitō
3 players from this attack could light up the tournament and will spearhead their attempts at getting into the last 16. These players are, Kagawa, Honda and Okoazaki. Kagawa may not have had the best of seasons at Manchester United but he is still one of Japan's key components. He supplies attacking flair, he is also very versatile as he can play on the right, the left and just behind the striker. Some of his main traits are the distribution of the ball and his anticipation of when to play the correct pass.
Honda has a ferocious left foot as shown in the last World Cup with his immense costless-kick against Denmark. If you can get this man onto the ball, he will cause damage to any opposition defence. Okoazaki, what a quality season this player has. The forward may be small but he is very nippy and has a deadly finish, which he has show in the Bundesliga this season with FSV Mainz 05. He scored an impressive 15 goal in 33 appearances and led Mainz to Europe this season with his important goals.
Group Rivals
Japan have been drawn against, Colombia, Greece and Ivory Coast. Colombia could be a surprise package in the tournament as they have the likes of Radamel Falcao, Jackson Martinez and James Rodriguez just to name a few and have a real attacking threat. The same with Ivory Coast, they have progressed so much in the last few World Cups, and they will hope to pass through the group stage for the first time in their history. They are capable of it though as they have some quality talent coming in the form of Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba and Wilifred Bony. In my opinion Greece will be the weakest team out of the 4; they don't have any world class stars such as the other 3 sides. All their hopes rest on the shoulders of Fulham flop, Konstantinos Mitroglou who was lighting up the Champions League before his disappointing move to Fulham.
Prediction : Round 0f 16
Japan could really cause of a few problems within the group. They will likely battle it out Ivory Coast for second in the group, but due to their experiences in past tournaments, I think they will pip the Ivory Coast to the coveted second place and into the last 16.
