Nickname-Samurai Blue
Asian Football Confederation
FIFA Ranking-#48 (March 2014)
Group C (Colombia, Greece, Cote D'Ivoire, Japan)
Projected Results...
Loss to Colombia
Loss to Cote D'Ivoire
Tie to Greece
Manager-Alberto Zaccheroni
Qualified through first place finish in AFC FIFA WC Qualification Group B
5th World Cup Appearance (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)
Projected Finish-Fourth in Group C
The Japanese have made their 5th straight World Cup, and that in itself is an accomplishment for a team that never participated in the tournament until 1998. The Japanese team is one with experience and a lot of firepower upfront, but not great in the back end on defense. In 2010, this team surprised by advancing to the group stages, and then beating Paraguay to advance to the quarterfinals. That being said, this is not an easy group for the Japanese. I really fancy Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Colombia to advance, and Greece are no slouches either, having qualified through first place in their qualification group. Honestly, I don't have confidence in Japan in this particular group because of how strong the attacking players are on the other teams, but I would not be surprised to see any of these teams advance out of the groups. Here are three players that will be vital to Japan's success, and all are high quality attacking players.
Key Players
Shinji Kagawa- 25 year old player for Manchester United, he will be vital to attacking build-up and netting goals. He has done well at Man United, but will need to be in form for this World Cup for his country to have a chance to advance. He is very dangerous if he's in form. IF is the key word here.
Keisuke Honda-Plays club for AC Milan in the Serie A in Italy. He possesses great quality, and is a great playmaker who can score magnificent goals. A lot of club teams wanted to sign him, and here is why:
Shinji Okazaki-Best goalscorer for Japan, with 38 goals in 73 appearances. He will need to play great and will need to net goals to keep up with other teams' strikeforces in the group. Plays in the Bundesliga for Mainz 05, so he plays against some top competition.
This Japanese team could be a dark horse to advance, but I just don't see them defending well enough to advance. They could entertain, though. This team continues to improve, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them do well in World Cups to come.
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