Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Since making their first appearance in 1998, Japan have been ever-present at the FIFA World Cup, with Brazil 2014 marking their fifth consecutive appearance in the finals.
Masashi Nakayama’s 74th minute strike against Jamaica in 1998, was the first World Cup goal Japan scored although it was a disappointing debut for the Samurai Blue as they lost all three matches.
Four years later, the World Cup was played on Asian soil for the first time as Japan co-hosted the 2002 finals with Korea Republic.
Japan made the most of their passionate home support and reached the Round of 16 only to bow out 1-0 to eventual third-place finishers Turkey before being denied a place in the 2010 quarter-finals after a heart-breaking penalty shootout defeat to Paraguay.
World Cup Fact File:
Previous Appearances:
4 (2010, 2006, 2002, 1998)
World Cup Debut:
14/06/98, Toulouse, versus Argentina
First Goal:
26/06/98, Masashi Nakayama, versus Jamaica
Best Performance:
Round of 16 (2010, 2002)
Most Goals:
Junichi Inamoto, Keisuke Honda (2)
Overall record:
PWDLFA
144371216
Results and Scorers:
France 1998
Group Stage:
14/06/98
Argentina 1 (Gabriel Batistuta 28)
Japan 0
20/06/98
Japan 0
Croatia 1 (Davor Suker 77)
26/06/98
Japan 1 (Masashi Nakayama 74)
Jamaica 2 (Theodore Whitmore 39, 54)
Korea/Japan 2002
Group Stage:
04/06/02
Japan 2 (Takayuki Suzuki 59, Junichi Inamoto 67)
Belgium 2 (Marc Wilmots 57, Peter van der Heyden 75)
09/06/02
Japan 1 (Junichi Inamoto 51)
Russia 0
14/06/02
Tunisia 0
Japan 2 Hiroaki Morishima 48, Hidetoshi Nakata 75)
Round of 16:
18/06/02
Japan 0
Turkey 1 (Umit Davala 12)
Germany 2006
Group Stage:
12/06/06
Australia 3 (Tim Cahill 84, 89, John Aloisi 90+2)
Japan 1 (Shunsuke Nakamura 26)
18/06/06
Japan 0
Croatia 0
22/06/06
Japan 1 (Keiji Tamada 34)
Brazil 4 (Ronaldo 45+1, 81, Juninho Pernambucano 53, Gilberto Melo 59)
South Africa 2010
Group Stage:
14/06/10
Japan 1 (Keisuke Honda 39)
Cameroon 0
19/06/10
Netherlands 1 (Wesley Sneijder 53)
Japan 0
24/06/10
Denmark 1 (Jon Dahl Tomasson 81)
Japan 3 (Keisuke Honda 17, Yasuhito Endo 30, Shinji Okazaki 87)
Round of 16:
29/06/10
Paraguay 0
Japan 0
(after extra time, Paraguay won 5-3 on penalties)