The FIFA World Cup 2018 is scheduled to be held in Russia from June 14 to July 15, 2018. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities.
The final will be held at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
Current World Cup squad (Provisional)
Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Metz/France), Masaaki Higashiguchi (Gamba Osaka), Kosuke Nakamura (Kashiwa Reysol);
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo (Galatasaray/Turkey), Tomoaki Makino (Urawa Red Diamonds), Wataru Endo (Urawa Red Diamonds), Maya Yoshida (Southampton/England), Hiroki Sakai (Marseille/France), Gotoku Sakai (Hamburg/Germany), Gen Shoji (Kashima Antlers), Naomichi Ueda (Kashima Antlers);
Midfielders: Makoto Hasebe (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany), Keisuke Honda (Pachuca/Mexico), Takashi Inui (Eibar/Spain), Shinji Kagawa (Borussia Dortmund/Germany), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka/Japan), Genki Haraguchi (Fortuna Dusseldorf/Germany), Takashi Usami (Fortuna Dusseldorf), Gaku Shibasaki (Getafe/Spain), Ryota Oshima (Kawasaki Frontale);
Forwards: Shinji Okazaki (Leicester City/England), Yuya Osako (Werder Bremen/Germany), Yoshinori Muto (Mainz/Germany).
2018 FIFA World Cup
In Group H, Japan started on a strong note by defeating Colombia in the first group match. In the second match, Japan drew with Senegal and lost the final group match against Poland. Despite Japan and Senegal were both on same points and same goal difference, Japan qualified for the knock-outs as they got lesser yellow cards than Senegal.
Coach for 2018
Japan coach Akira Nishino
Akira Nishino
Fixtures
June 19: vs Colombia
June 24: vs Senegal
June 28: vs Poland
Past records
No. of times team has played in WC (number): 5
No. of matches played (number): 17
No. of matches won: 4
No. of matches lost: 9
No. of times lost in finals (Number): 0
No. of times world cup won (number):
No. of goals scored in WC: 14
Top 3 players to watch: Maya Yoshida, Shinji Okazaki, Shinji Kagawa
Road to WC: Japan is eyeing to up their current best to enter the knockout stage in their sixth consequtive World Cup Group stage
Player who has played most world cups (appearances): Hidetoshi Nakata (10)
Player who has scored most no. of goals (Player:No. of goals): Keisuke Honda (3)
