FIFA World Cup 2022: Japan – united against the “Doha tragedy”

Japan does not have good memories of the World Cup host country. With team unity as the trump card, new stories are to be written.

The trainer

Hajime Moriyasu doesn’t have the best memories of World Cup host country Qatar. In 1993, today’s national coach and then midfielder for Japan played in the capital Doha for participation in the World Cup in the USA – and the game took place for the “blue samurai” not a good ending. A win against Iraq would have been enough for Japan to take part in the World Cup for the first time in the association’s history. But a late goal sealed the 2-2 draw and also marked the birth of the “Tragedy of Doha“, which is still talked about in Japan today.

Almost 30 years later, Moriyasu travels to Qatar again as head coach. The 54-year-old Moriyasu, who is active both as a player and as a coach exclusively in Japan, relies on quick transitions and tactical and personal flexibility.

The star

The phrase “the star is the team” popular in the footballing world has been true of the Japan national team for years – and the eleven that line up in Qatar will also be characterized by team spirit. Daichi Kamada (Eintracht Frankfurt), Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco) or Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal London) have extraordinary abilities and Champions Leagueexperience, but none of them clearly stands out from the ensemble. The balance of the squad does not have to be a disadvantage – and can even prove to be a trump card.

Player to watch

He was once considered “japanese messi“, then his career faltered: Takefusa Kubo is one of the most exciting players in the Japanese squad. At the age of 10, the winger switched to the youth department of FC Barcelona, ​​at 15 he made his debut as the youngest player in the Japanese J-League and five days after his 18th birthday followed his senior international debut.

But when Real Madrid signed the highly talented dribbler in 2019, a difficult time began for Kubo. Several rental stations did not bring the desired success, so that the now 21-year-old “royal” left for San Sebastián at the beginning of the current season. There Kubo seems to be able to meet the high expectations placed on him more and more. As an undisputed regular player, he contributes goals and assists – and is now one of the hopefuls of the well-manned Japanese offensive to the World Cup.

special

It is no surprise that some Bundesliga legionnaires will be deployed in Qatar. However, the fact that Japan has nine players active in Germany who have legitimate hopes of the World Cup should come as a surprise to one or the other fan of German football

By the way, a player with a German-sounding name could be in goal at the World Cup: Daniel Schmidt (30), son of a German father and a Japanese mother, was recently able to look forward to more starting XI mandates with the Moriyasu team. The 1.97 meter tall goalkeeper is active in Belgium’s first division at VV St. Truiden.

World Cup Chances

“Japan is a team that is always there. They have a lot of players who play in the Bundesliga. Therefore they are of high quality“said national coach Hansi Flick after the World Cup draw about the group opponents of the DFB-Elf. In fact, Japan has been at every World Cup since 1998 – more than three round of 16 participations (2002, 2010 and 2018) cannot be shown .

The World Cup qualifiers were also bumpy, finishing second behind Saudi Arabia in the Asian Football Confederation qualifying group. Recent friendlies have produced a mixed picture – making this Japanese side difficult to pin down. It is clear that there is a lot of class in the squad – the Japanese can cause a surprise. But you also need that in order to be able to hold your own in the difficult group with Germany, Spain and Costa Rica.