Japan World Cup 2022 squad guide: Full fixtures, group, ones to watch, odds and more
Japan are in Group E with Germany, Spain and Costa Rica. They have a poor record at World Cups since 1998. Hajime Moriyasu is the new coach of the national team. He managed Japan at the 2018 World Cup. Japan qualified behind Colombia in the group stage and beat them. However, they lost in a dramatic last-gasp encounter to Belgium.
Japan squad for the 2022 World Cup is: Eiji Kawashima, Daniel Schmidt, Shuichi Gonda and Shuichiro Gondom.
Hiroki Sakai, Miki Yamane, Ko Itakura, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Maya Yoshida, Shogo Taniguchi, Hiroki Ito, Yuto Nagatomo are the players selected for the 2022 World Cup.
Japan squad for the 2022 World Cup is: Junya Ito, Ritsu Doan, Wataru Endo (VfB Stuttgart), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting), Ao Tanaka (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Takefusa Kubo and Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton & Hove Albion), Gaku Shibasaki (Leganes), Yuki Soma and Shuto Machino are the other players.
Takumi Minamino joined Monaco from Liverpool this summer. He has already scored 17 goals for his national team in 43 games.
Daichi Kamada has six goals from 21 international caps and six assists for Eintracht Frankfurt this season. Kamadra is a real threat going forward and he will hope to demonstrate that in Qatar.
Japan are hoping that Spain or Germany will fail at a major tournament. They are likely to finish behind them and be knocked out in the group stage.
