Contradanyc.com – Asia sent the most representatives in World Cup history. Apart from hosting Qatar, Japan National Team, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia also participated.
One of the major Asian powers is Japan. In qualifying, Samurai Blue was ranked second in the final qualifying phase with 22 points from 10 matches. Japan also qualified with group winners Saudi Arabia.
However, a tough journey awaits them in the main tournament. The draw for the 2022 World Cup group stage puts them alongside two European giants, Spain and Germany, plus Costa Rica in Group E. Germany and Spain are the toughest opponents. Both have brought home the World Cup trophy.
The Japanese coach, Hajime Moriyasu, was also aware of this. However, he remains optimistic that his troops will be able to overcome these obstacles.
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“Against a team that has a track record of winning the World Cup means a lot to us. Because we want to face the best in the world,” he said.
The Qatar World Cup will take place from November 20 to December 18, 2022. There is still time for the Blue Samurai to prepare for the two giants.
“We will analyze the opponent. We will not see them better than us. We will show our own strength,” said Moriyasu.
World Cup
The 2022 Qatar World Cup will be the 22nd competition since it first took place in 1930 in Uruguay. This event was absent due to World War II in 1942 and 1946. The World Cup is held every four years. Later the idea emerged to change it to once every two years.
This idea came from Arsene Wenger, former Arsenal manager. FIFA supported the idea and discussed it with the six confederations. However, Wenger’s proposal received a negative response. There are parties who do not agree if the World Cup is held every two years. This is because it can have a negative impact on the physical player.
In addition, the qualification process needs to be carried out in stages and takes a long time. Moreover, the World Cup was only followed by 32 of the 211 countries in the world. It takes a complicated process to find the best national team that deserves to advance to the main tournament.
FIFA determines the qualifying rounds based on the confederation zones, namely UEFA (Europe), CONMEBOL (South America), CONCACAF (North America), CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia), and OFC (Oceania). eight groups from A to H.
Japan National Team became one of these countries and entered Group E. The following is the schedule for the Samurai Team:
2022 World Cup Complete Group Division
Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands
Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales
Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland
Group D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia
Group E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan
Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia
Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon
Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea
Japan’s Match Schedule in the World Cup
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
20:00 WIB: Germany vs Japan (Khalifa International Stadium)
Sunday, November 27, 2022
17:00 WIB: Japan vs Costa Rica (Al Rayyan Stadium)
Friday, December 2, 2022
02:00 WIB: Japan vs Spain (Khalifa International Stadium)
