Japan World Cup Squad: France 1998

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Japan in the World Cup Finals, World Cup Reports, World Cup Squad.

World Cup Appearances:
France 1998 was Japan's 1st appearance in the World Cup Finals.

Best World Cup Performance:
Japan missed the plane to US 1994; due to a late Iraqi equaliser, which enabled South Korea to take their place.

Japan's professional league only started in 1993, yet they managed to lure Gary Linneker and a handful of Brazilians to play there; with a strong Yen, and plenty of it.

Japan in the 1998 World Cup

Group H

14th June: vs. Argentina (0:1) in Toulouse.

20th June: vs. Croatia (0:1) in Nantes.

26th June: vs. Jamaica (1:2) in Lyon.

Japan didn't get a point in their first World Cup finals but Nakayama certainly raised a cheer, in Tokyo, when he volleyed home Japan's first World Cup finals goal; during their last game, against Jamaica.

Knockout Stage

Japan failed to qualify for the Second Round.

AFC:
Asian Football Confederation.

Japan Football Association.

Japan World Cup Squad

Goalkeepers:

1 Nobuyuki Kojima (Bellmare Hiratsuuka)
20 Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Yokohama Marinos)
21 Seigo Narazaki (Yokohama Flugels)

Defenders:

2 Akira Narahashi (Kashima Antlers)
3 Naoki Soma (Kashima Antlers)
4 Masami Ihara (Yokohama Marinos)
5 Norio Omura (Yokohama Marinos)
16 Toshihide Saito (Shimizu S-Pulse)
17 Yutaka Akita (Kashima Antlers)
19 Eisuke Nakanishi (JEF United Ichihara)

Midfielders:

6 Motohiro Yamaguchi (Yokohama Flugels)
7 Teruyoshi Ito (Shimizu S-Pulse)
8 Hidetoshi Nakata (Bellmare Hiratsuka)
10 Hiroshi Nanami (Jubilo Iwata)
11 Shinji Ono (Urawa Red Diamonds)
13 Toshihiro Hattori (Jubilo Iwata)
15 Hiroaki Morishima (Cerezo Osaka)
22 Takashi Hirano (Nagoya Grampus Eight)

Forwards:

9 Masashi Nakayama (Jubilo Iwata)
12 Wagner Lopes (Bellmare Hiratsuka)
14 Masayuki Okano (Urawa Red Diamonds)
18 Shoji Jo (Yokohama Marinos)

Trainer:
Takeshi Okada.

Teams by Group

Group A
Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland.