| Germany 2006: |
| JAPAN |
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| KEY FACTS |
| World Ranking |
| 16th |
| JAPAN NEWS |
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| The Japanese have proven why exactly they deserve to be representing Asia in qualifying, going the entire campaign winning all but one match and conceding only five goals. The dominant run the former World Cup hosts enjoyed saw the goals shared around with Fukunishi, Ogasawara, Oguro and Suzuki all finishing the campaign with three to lead the Japanese goal scoring charts. Japan's ranking as the best in Asia is backed by their winning of the Asian championship in 2004, defeating tornament hosts China 3-1, to retain their crown. |
| Qualifying Group Position |
| 1st |
| Round 2 |
| 1st |
| Round 3 |
| Top Scorers |
| Takashi Fukunishi Mitsuo Ogasawara Masashi Oguro Takayuki Suzuki |
| 3 Goals |
| QUALIFYING |
| 1-0 |
| Oman |
| Dft |
| 18-Feb-04 |
| 2-1 |
| Singapore |
| Dft |
| 31-Mar-04 |
| 7-0 |
| India |
| Dft |
| 09-Jun-04 |
| 4-0 |
| India |
| Dft |
| 08-Sep-04 |
| 1-0 |
| Oman |
| Dft |
| 13-Oct-04 |
| 1-0 |
| Singapore |
| Dft |
| 17-Nov-04 |
| 2-1 |
| Korea DPR |
| Dft |
| 09-Feb-05 |
| 1-2 |
| Lost To |
| 25-Mar-05 |
| 1-0 |
| Bahrain |
| Dft |
| 30-Mar-05 |
| 1-0 |
| Bahrain |
| Dft |
| 03-Jun-05 |
| 2-0 |
| Korea DPR |
| Dft |
| 08-Jun-05 |
| 2-1 |
| Dft |
| 17-Aug-05 |
| JAPAN'S WORLD CUP HISTORY |
| Appearances (Champions in bold) |
| 1998, 2002, 2006 |
| SQUAD (club in brackets) |
| Goalkeepers |
| Yoichi Doi (FC Tokyo, Japan) |
| Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata, Japan) |
| Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight, Japan) |
| Defenders |
| Alex (Urawa Reds, Japan) |
| Akira Kaji (Gamba Osaka, Japan) |
| Yuichi Komano (Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Japan) |
| Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka, Japan) |
| Koji Nakata (FC Basel, Switzerland) |
| Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F-Marinos, Japan) |
| Midfielders |
| Takashi Fukunishi (Jubilo Iwata, Japan) |
| Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka, Japan) |
| Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic, Scotland) |
| Junichi Inamoto (West Brom. Albion, England) |
| Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima Antlers, Japan) |
| Forwards |
| Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba, Japan) |
| Masashi Oguro (Grenoble, France) |
| Naohiro Takahara (Hamburg, Germany) |
| Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus Eight, Japan) |
| Keisuke Tsuboli (Urawa Reds, Japan) |
| Shinji Ono (Urawa Reds, Japan) |
| Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton Wanderers, England) |
| Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima Antlers, Japan) |
| Makoto Tanaka (Jubilo Iwata, Japan) |