Drawn alongside Colombia, Poland and Senegal in Group H, Japan should be well in the mix for a place in the knockout stages although their previous performances at the World Cup haven't proved particularly fruitful.
Qualification for the 2018 World Cup
Japan topped their final Asian qualification group, finishing a point ahead of both Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Prior to that they took 22 points from a possible 24 and didn't concede a single goal in their second round group.
However, due to a growing sense of discontent between the players, Japanese FA and manager Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked with just eight weeks to go until the start of the tournament and was replaced by Akira Nishino. As a result there will be plenty of unknowns in terms of playing style compared to the qualification campaign.
World Cup History
Since qualifying for the first time in 1998 Japan have been regulars at the World Cup finals. Russia will be their sixth consecutive tournament although their exploits have always ended in either a group stage or last 16 exit.
The Samurai Blue had a torrid time in Brazil four years ago, taking just a single point from their three matches and scoring just two goals in the process.
dabblebet2018 World Cup Squad
| GK | DEF | MID | ST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eiji Kawashima | Yuto Nagatomo | Makoto Hasebe | Shinji Okazaki |
| Masaaki Higashiguchi | Tomoaki Makino | Keisuke Honda | Yuya Osako |
| Kosuke Nakamura | Maya Yoshida | Takashi Inui | Yoshinori Muto |
| Hiroki Sakai | Shinji Kagawa | ||
| Gotoku Sakai | Hotaru Yamaguchi | ||
| Gen Shoji | Genki Haraguchi | ||
| Wataru Endo | Takashi Usami | ||
| Naomichi Ueda | Gaku Shibasaki | ||
| Ryota Oshima |
Latest World Cup odds
| Market | Price |
|---|---|
| To win the World Cup | 250/1 (251.0) |
| To make the World Cup final | 100/1 (101.0) |
| To win Group H | 13/2 (7.50) |
| To qualify from Group H | 2/1 (3.0) |
| To be the top Asian team | 13/8 (2.63) |
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