World Cup Fantasy 2022 Japan team preview | OneFootball

In this World Cup Fantasy 2022 article, we preview Japan and their World Cup 2022 hopes - from their route to qualification, form since and best fantasy players.

Check out our Ultimate Guide to World Cup Fantasy Football, which will feature everything you need to know under one roof, from strategy guides to expert team reveals and all our team previews as they are published.

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Japan World Cup 2022 team preview

Manager: Hajime Moriyasu

World ranking: 24th

World Cup 2018 performance: Round of 16

Best World Cup performance: Round of 16 (2002, 10, 18)

Who will Japan play in the World Cup 2022 group stages?

World Cup group E: Spain, Germany, Costa Rica, Japan. Graphic source: Google

When do Japan play in the World Cup 2022? Group-stage fixtures

Japan's group-stage fixtures are as follows - all times in GMT:

Japan's route to the World Cup 2022: Qualifying performances

Top scorer: Takumi Minamino and Yuya Osako - 10

Most assists:  Junya Ito - 7

Takumi Minamino of Japan. Picture by Getty Images

Japan received a bye to the second round of Asian World Cup qualifying by being the second-highest ranked side in their region, behind Iran.

In a group which contained Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Myanmar, Japan steamrollered their way through an eight-win, 100% winning record.

They scored an incredible 46 goals, conceding just twice - by far and away the strongest record in round two.

14-0 and 10-0 wins against Mongolia and Myanmar - with Yuya Osako scoring seven in two - showed the gulf in class at this stage.

Qualifying round three

It became more challenging in round three, with Japan placed in a group with Saudi Arabia, Australia, Oman, China and Vietnam.

The Samurai Blues won seven, drew one and lost two - a record good enough for the second and final automatic qualifying spot of their group.

Japan's third-round World Cup qualifying group table. Source: Google

Japan opened the group with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Oman.

Osaka scored the only goal as they beat China by the same scoreline, only for a repeat scoreline of their opening loss next up against Saudi Arabia.

Japan then won 2-1 at home to Australia, with Ao Tanaka opening the scoring. Australia equalised, only for a late own-goal to hand Japan the three points.

The Samurai Blues continued their streak of 1-0 results in the following two matches. Both - against Vietnam and Oman - went their way, with Junya Ito the scorer in both.

A third in three for the winger came in the 2-0 win over China, with a penalty converted by Osako.

Japan's appetite for similar scorelines continued - with 2-0 victories over Saudi Arabia (Minamino, Ito) and Australia (Kaoru Mitoma).

The latter game was a special one for Brighton's Mitoma as his two goals after coming off the bench secured his country's automatic qualification spot for Qatar.

It meant a final-game 1-1 draw with Vietnam - featuring a goal from former Premier League player Maya Yoshida - was not consequential.

Japan's form since qualifying for the World Cup 2022

Japan completed qualifying in March.

June saw Japan contest four international friendlies, in which they picked up two 4-1 wins and lost twice.

Takuma Asano, Daichi Kamada, Mitoma and Tanaka scored in the 4-1 win over Paraguay.

Japan then lost 1-0 to Brazil, with a game four days later seeing Mitoma, Miki Yamane, Takefusa Kubo and Daizen Maeda net to defeat fellow Ghana 4-1.

A 3-0 loss at home to Tunisia marked a disappointing end to June.

Japan secured 6-0 and 3-0 victories and a 0-0 draw in July's East Asian Football Championship games, however their heavily changed squad did not include most senior players.

September brought home ties against USA and Ecuador, with Japan emerging victorious against USA before a 0-0 draw with Ecuador. See our World Cup form guide for full details.

Do Japan have any World Cup warm-up matches?

Japan play Canada on November 17. Our form guide will be updated with the result.

Who is in the Japan World Cup 2022 squad?

Countries are expected to announce their squads as late as November 14, narrowing down their preliminary lists of up to 55 players to 26 players.

But Japan got in early and were among the first to confirm their squad. It is as follows:

GK: Eiji Kawashima, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt

DEF: Yuto Nagatomo, Maya Yoshida, Hiroki Sakai, Shogo Taniguchi, Miki Yamane, Ko Itakura, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Hiroki Ito

MID: Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Daichi Kamada, Yuki Soma, Kaoru Mitoma, Ritsu Doan, Ao Tanaka, Takefuso Kubo

FOR: Takuma Asano, Daizen Maeda, Ayase Ueda, Shuto Machino

Who will start for Japan in the World Cup 2022?

Our predicted lineup for Japan is as below - but see our full analysis in our predicted lineups article, coming soon.