Two previous World Cup winners — Spain and Germany — are the apparent favorites to advance, and their conference on Nov. 27 is the marquee match of the veryfirst round. Stingy Japan has a strong team and is the more mostlikely of the other 2 groups to upset the natural order if one of the giants slips up. As for aging Costa Rica, enduring the veryfirst round will be an extremely high order.
Everything you requirement to understand about Japan:
Coach: Hajime Moriyasu
Highest surface: Round of 16 (2002, 2010, 2018)
2018 surface: Round of 16
FOX Bet chances: +25000
Key gamers: Daichi Kamada, Takumi Minamino, Takehiro Tomiyasu
What we’re thrilled to watch: Japan enjoys the underdog function and tends to surpass expectations. In 2018, they endured a group including Colombia, Poland and Senegal and then offered Belgiumeverything they might manage in the 2nd round. Don’t be stunned if they upset one of their embellished European enemies.
What success appearance like: Making it out of the veryfirst round at successive World Cups would be an unmatched achievement for the Blue Samurai. Winning a knockout round match for the veryfirst time would be even muchbetter.
Achilles heel: Scoring. The 4 forwards on Japan’s 26-man lineup have simply 10 global objectives inbetween them.
X-Factor: Defense. With a back line led by Arsenal center back Tomiyasu and captain Maya Yoshida, Japan is ultra-disciplined and arranged defensively, making them exceptionally tough for challengers to break down. Teams that wear’t get scored on can’t get beat – even by the likes of Germany or Spain.
Three things you requirement to understand about Japan
Alexi Lalas provides us 3 things we requirement to understand about Japan ahead of the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup.
Goalkeepers: Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt, Eiji Kawashima
Defenders: Miki Yamane, Hiroki Sakai, Maya Yoshida, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Shogo Taniguchi, Ko Itakura, Hiroki Ito, Yuto Nagatomo
Midfielders: Wataru Endo, Hidemasa Morita, Ao Tanaka, Gaku Shibasaki, Kaoru Mitoma, Daichi Kamada, Ritsu Doan, Junya Ito, Takumi Minamino, Takefusa Kubo, Yuki Soma
Forwards: Daizen Maeda, Takuma Asano, Shuto Machino, Ayase Ueda
Doug McIntyre is a soccer author for FOX Sports. Before signingupwith FOX Sports in 2021, he was a personnel author with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he hasactually covered United States guys’s and ladies’s nationwide groups at several FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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