World Cup Preview

 THE 2026 FIFA WORLD CUP IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Japan are in Group D along with Belgium, Algeria and Holland

Here is the fixture list:

14.6.2026
vs Belgium
at Candlestick Park, San Francisco

19.6.2026
vs Algeria
at Soldier Field, Chicago

24.6.2026
vs Holland
at Reliant Stadium, Houston

Here is the Japans squad numbers.

1. Takatsuka Makino
2. Hirokatsu Asahi
3. Shin'ichiro Sawada
4. Nobuyoshi Tanaka
5. Masahiro Kobayashi
6. Naoki Kondo
7. Osamu Fujita
8. Kazutaka Sugimoto
9. Keisuke Kita
10. Edson Horikawa
11. Takaya Unemoto
12. Takuya Chiba
13. Daiki Takeda
14. Hiromi Kimoto
15. Junki Osawa
16. Hirokatsu Orimi
17. Tsubasa Hattori
18. Reiji Sato
19. Akio Takeda
20. Masateru Sasaki
21. Hideyuki Shimizu
22. Yasuhiro Watanabe
23. Dentuco Goto

Odds:

Spain 6-4
Brazil 6-4
Germany 2-1
France 2-1
Holland 2-1
Italy 2-1
...
Japan 20-1

Expectations:
Japans hopes are to qualify from the group but being handed a tough group, that could be very hard. The hope is the win at least one game and draw another. Going trough with 4 points should be possible.

Daisuke Nakada out of World Cup

Daisuke Nakada has picked up a hip injury that will sideline him for 2 months. Japan has recalled Yasuhiro Watanabe from 1860 Munchen, the 24-year old left back has 2 caps on his resumé.

Dentuco hit with injury in training.

Goalkeeper Dentuco was hit with an injury in training and is out for 2 weeks.

Dentuco is however considered the 3rd goalkeeper of the Japan squad, so its unlikely that it will have an impact.

France, Game Review

Result: 2-4 (HT 0-2)

29. 0-1 Philippe Roux
37. 0-2 Idrissa Diakite
59. 0-3 Adil Tran
64. 0-4 Dominique Diame
69. 1-4 Masateru Sasaki
85. 2-4 Takaya Unemoto

Man of the Match: Philippe Roux

Substitions:
71. A.Takeda for Osawa
74. Orimi for Sasaki
77. Sawada for Hattori
79. Kobayashi for Chiba
79. Unemoto for Kita
80. Fujita for D.Takeda

Review:

Not a good game, yet again Japan are conceding to easy but finally they created some chances and scored 2 goals versus a very good team. However this game was a chance for the players to get into match fitness before the World Cup start and they did that.

Japans best player was Mataseru Sasaki who scored.

Friendly vs France

Game Info

Competition: Friendly
Venue: Kobe Wing Stadium
Referee: Chen Zheng (China)
Weather: 13ºc

Past Meetings:
3P, 3L

Rankings:
Japan 63, France 3.

Starting Lineup:
4-4-1-1

Shimizu

Nakada - Tanaka - Chiba - Sato

Hattori - D.Takeda - Sasaki - Sugimoto

Osawa

Kita(c)

Bench:
Makino, A.Takeda, Fujita, Orimi, Sawada, Kobayashi, Kondo, Unemoto, Kimoto

Not In Squad:
Asahi, Edson, Dentuco

Notes:
It is the final friendly before the start of the World Cup.

Edson out for 3 weeks.

Edson, who suffered an injury in the England game has been ruled out for 3 weeks with a groin injury. He is ruled out for the first two World Cup games and has a chance to return in the final game vs Holland.

England, Game Review

Result: 3-0 (HT 1-0)

38. 1-0 Edwin Knight
60. 2-0 John Stones
85. 3-0 Brett Hampson

Man of the Match: Edwin Knight(England)

Substitions:
45. Edson for A.Takeda
45. Sasaki for Orimi
60. Sato for Sugimoto
70. Edson for Kita
75. Nakada for Kobayashi
75. Chiba for Kondo


Review:

Japan was down 1-0 going into half-time, but will have to be disappointed the concede an easy goal, after Edwin Knight run past a couple a defenders before applying a nice finish.

John Stones made it 2-0 after a corner kick and Brett Hampson added another after some poor defending again.

Edson had to be subbed off due to an injury.

For the second time in a row the Japan offense struggled to create chances but facing the 2nd ranked team in the World. No one can be surprised by the end result.