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.

Friendy vs England

Game info

Competetion: Friendly
Venue: Wembley, London
Referee: Robin Korte (Germany)
Weather: Dry 14°c

Past meetings:
1 played, 1 loss

Rankings:
England 2, Japan 63

Starting Lineup:
4-4-1-1

Makino

Kondo - Asahi - Kimoto - Kobayashi

Sugimoto - Orimi - Fujita(c) - Sawada

A.Takeda

Unemoto

Bench:
Shimizu, D.Takeda, Sasaki, Hattori, Nakada, Chiba, Kita, Sato, Edson

Not in squad:
Osawa, Tanaka, Dentuco

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Game Review

Result: 0-0 (HT 0-0)

Man of the Match: Stojan Bakovic(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Substitions:
Kita for Unemoto(45)
D.Takeda for Fujita(63)
Hattori for Sawada(63)
Sato for Sugimoto(76)
Sasaki for Orimi(81)
Edson for A.Takeda(83)

An ok start towards the World Cup campaign, an away draw vs a higher ranked team. Japan could have run away with the win, but neither team was open to break trough and gain big chances in this game.

Japans best player was a tie between Naoki Kondo and Masahiro Kobayashi.

Friendly vs Bosnia and Herzegovina

Game Info:

Competition: Friendly
Venue: Asim Ferhatovic, Kosovo, Sarajevo
Referee: Leon Haase
Weather: Rainy, 15ºc

Past Meetings:
3 played, 2 losses, 1 draw

Rankings:
Bosnia 10, Japan 63.

Starting Lineup:

4-4-1-1

Makino

Kondo - Asahi - Kimoto - Kobyashi

Sugimoto - Orimi - Fujita(c) - Sawada

A. Takeda

Unemoto

Bench:
Shimizu, D Takeda, Hattori, Nakada, Chiba, Sasaki, Kita, Sato, Edson

Not in squad:
Osawa, Tanaka, Dentuco

Final World Cup Squad Complete

Here is the final squad for the 2026 World Cup

Goalkeepers:

Takatsuka Makino, LOSC Lille - Age 28 - (84 caps/0 goals)
Hideyuki Shimizu, Besiktas - Age 25 - (17 caps/0 goals)
Dentuco Goto, Antlers - Age 24 - (7 caps/0 goals)

Defenders:

Takuya Chiba, Reading - Age 28 - (109 caps/2 goals)
Naoki Kondo, Cagliari - Age 25 - (22 caps/0 goals)
Daisuke Nakada, Dinamo Zagreb - Age 29 - (45 caps/1 goal)
Masahiro Kobayashi, sc Heerenveen - Age 29 - (16 caps/0 goals)
Hiromi Kimoto, Lazio - Age 31 - (115 caps/6 goals)
Nobuyoshi Tanaka, ACF Fiorentina - Age 27 - (49 caps/1 goal)
Hirokatsu Asahi, LA Galaxy - Age 32 - (47 caps/0 goals)

Midfielders:

Reiji Sato, Albirex - Age 32 - (11 caps/0 goals)
Kazutaka Sugimoto, FC Twente - Age 27 - (54 caps/7 goals)
Tsubasa Hattori, Hannover - Age 32 - (81 caps/9 goals)
Shin'incho Sawada, Sanfrecce - Age 22 - (17 caps/3 goals)
Osamu Fujita, Valenciennes FC - Age 31 - (98 caps/3 goals)
Hirokatsu Orimi, Everton - Age 23 - (38 caps/6 goals)
Masateru Sasaki, Olympique Lyonnais - Age 24 - (9 caps/0 goals)
Daiki Takeda, Sion - Age 28 - (7 caps/0 goals)

Strikers:

Junki Osawa, Vegalta - Age 20 - (15 caps/6 goals)
Akio Takeda, HSV - Age 23 - (28 caps/12 goals)
Takaya Unemoto, Sevilla - Age 28 - (121 caps/60 goals)
Keisuke Kita, LOSC Lille - Age 29 - (75 caps/22 goals)
Edson Horikawa, Sanfrecce - Age 25 - (18 caps/2 goals)

Cuts:
Michiharu Egashira, Bologna - Age 30 - (22 caps/0 goals)
Hisayuki Takenaka, Sanfrecce - Age 24 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Sosuke Uesugi, Freiburg - Age 26 (13 caps/3 goals)
Tsubasa Morioka, Albirex - Age 27 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Yuichiro Iijima, Getafe, Age 28 - (90 caps/7 goals)
Yuta Tada, Lekhwiya - Age 29 - (66 caps/4 goals)
Tatsuro Fujiyama, Columbus Crew - Age 28 - (17 caps/2 goals)

Yuta Tada out of World Cup with broken foot

29-year old midfielder Yuta Tada has been ruled out of the World Cup after breaking his foot.

With Japan already facing a roster cut-down soon, their will be no replacement called up.

Media questions the selection of Egashira and Kondo

With the 30 man preliminary squad announced the media has called the selections of centre-back Masahiro Egashira and full-back Naoki Kondo, wondering why a player like Keisuke Wako was not selected instead.

Egashira and Kondo will have to prove their worth in the upcoming friendly with Bosnia and Herzegovina in Kosovo.

Japan Premilinary World Cup Squad Announced

Goalkeepers:

Takatsuka Makino, LOSC Lille - Age 28 - (84 caps/0 goals)
Hideyuki Shimizu, Besiktas - Age 25 - (17 caps/0 goals)
Dentuco Goto, Antlers - Age 24 - (7 caps/0 goals)

Defenders:

Takuya Chiba, Reading - Age 28 - (109 caps/2 goals)
Naoki Kondo, Cagliari - Age 25 - (22 caps/0 goals)
Hisayuki Takenaka, Sanfrecce - Age 24 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Daisuke Nakada, Dinamo Zagreb - Age 29 - (45 caps/1 goal)
Masahiro Kobayashi, sc Heerenveen - Age 29 - (16 caps/0 goals)
Hiromi Kimoto, Lazio - Age 31 - (115 caps/6 goals)
Nobuyoshi Tanaka, ACF Fiorentina - Age 27 - (49 caps/1 goal)
Sosuke Uesugi, Freiburg - Age 26 (13 caps/3 goals)
Hirokatsu Asahi, LA Galaxy - Age 32 - (47 caps/0 goals)
Michiharu Egashira, Bologna - Age 30 - (22 caps/0 goals)

Midfielders:

Reiji Sato, Albirex - Age 32 - (11 caps/0 goals)
Kazutaka Sugimoto, FC Twente - Age 27 - (54 caps/7 goals)
Tsubasa Hattori, Hannover - Age 32 - (81 caps/9 goals)
Shin'incho Sawada, Sanfrecce - Age 22 - (17 caps/3 goals)
Tsubasa Morioka, Albirex - Age 27 - (2 caps/0 goals)
Osamu Fujita, Valenciennes FC - Age 31 - (98 caps/3 goals)
Hirokatsu Orimi, Everton - Age 23 - (38 caps/6 goals)
Yuichiro Iijima, Getafe, Age 28 - (90 caps/7 goals)
Masateru Sasaki, Olympique Lyonnais - Age 24 - (9 caps/0 goals)
Daiki Takeda, Sion - Age 28 - (7 caps/0 goals)
Yuta Tada, Lekhwiya - Age 29 - (66 caps/4 goals)

Strikers:

Junki Osawa, Vegalta - Age 20 - (15 caps/6 goals)
Akio Takeda, HSV - Age 23 - (28 caps/12 goals)
Takaya Unemoto, Sevilla - Age 28 - (121 caps/60 goals)
Keisuke Kita, LOSC Lille - Age 29 - (75 caps/22 goals)
Tatsuro Fujiyama, Columbus Crew - Age 28 - (17 caps/2 goals)
Edson Horikawa, Sanfrecce - Age 25 - (18 caps/2 goals)

The final squad will have 23 players, so 7 players won't make it to USA.

With the 3 goalkeepers set, the cuts will come from the outfield players. There are no debutants in the squad. Striker Takaya Unemoto leads the pack with 121 caps in the other end Tsubasa Morioka and Hisayuki Takenaka only have 2 each.

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To anyone dropping by the blog, feel free to leave a comment.

Sasaki also in doubt

As the news states Masateru Sasaki is also in doubt for the World Cup, now this comes as a bigger blow than the Shima injury as Sasaki was deemed certain for a place in the squad.

Sasaki, who plays regularly for the Lique 1 top side Lyon has been deemed out for 4 weeks.

Sasaki is a big talent and after gaining regurlar first team football for Lyon he has also been a regular for the Japan NT.

The 24-year old has played 9 times for Japan.

Shima picks up injury and is doubtful for the World Cup

Striker and winger Shinichiro Shima from the Columbus Crew of the MLS has picked up a 4 week injury and might see him miss out on the World Cup.

Its a big blow for Shima's chances that would have liked to play the World Cup in the country he already resides.

However for japan Shima has been a borderline inductee to the squad everytime. He has however found some time on the left wing for the team after Orimi was moved to the central midfield.

Ok so, im starting this blog based on my FM 13 game, ive played FM 14 also, but had a real good save in my FM 13 so just continued playing that.

It is my idea that i want to play FM 15 once it is released in November and start a new blog. So stay tuned for that.

Right now i am the National Team Coach of Japan and we are close to the World Cup of 2026 in USA.