In the soccer World Cup final tournament, Japan faced Croatia in the early hours of the morning of the 6th (December 2022), Japan time, with the score tied 1-1 even following extra time. They did not advance to the top 8 for the first time. “THE TIME,” MC Shinichiro Azumi (49) said, “In the next 2026 World Cup, the 32 participating teams will be greatly increased to 48 teams.The number of slots from Asia will be 8.5.The final tournament is the best. I started at 32. Four years from now, I may have more sleepless nights.”
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Aiming for the next
Player name spelling “traffic slogan”
In the 43rd minute of the first half, Japan’s FW Daizen Maeda (25) scored the first goal of the tournament. However, last year’s runner-up Croatia tied the score in the 10th minute of the second half with Perisic’s header. In the penalty shootout, Takumi MINAMINO aimed for the right corner but was blocked by the keeper, followed by Kaoru MITOMA who also stopped a grounder shot to the left corner. The third player, Takuma Asano, scored, but the fourth player, Maya Yoshida, was also prevented from going to the left corner. During this time, Croatia scored 2 out of 3 goals before the 4th scored in the left corner to make it 3-1. Japan’s first advance to the top 8 did not come true.
Maeda, who scored the goal, said, “It was a tournament to give back to the people who supported me, but I’m really sorry that I mightn’t advance to the next stage.” Director Hajime Moriyasu (54) said, “We mightn’t overcome the wall of the round of 16, but the players showed us a new era. We beat Germany (4-time World Cup winners) and Spain (1-time winner). and beat the World Cup champion.Furthermore, if you think regarding ‘passing’ instead of ‘catching up’, the future will change.”
In the past, Japan had nothing to do with the World Cup, but with the launch of the J-League in May 1993, the level of Japanese football has improved dramatically. At the World Cup USA tournament, he was one step away from participating. In October 1993 once morest Iraq, it was the “Doha tragedy” when the score was tied just before the end of the game.
However, in November 1997, as the “delight of Johor Bahru,” Masayuki Okano, a wild man, scored the winning goal and decided to participate in the World Cup for the first time. However, the manager at that time, Takeshi Okada, removed Kazu Miura (Kazura) from the national team and lost all three games in the group stage. In the 2002 Japan-Korea tournament, Japan, led by coach Troussier, scored its first point by drawing with Belgium. Defeated Russia and Tunisia to participate in the final tournament for the first time. However, they lost to Turkey and did not advance to the final eight. At the 2006 German tournament, they were eliminated from the group league without even winning a single match. Since then, they have not been able to surpass the “best 8 wall” with the best 16 at the 2010 South Africa tournament, the group league loss at the 2014 Brazil tournament, and the best 16 at the 2018 Russia tournament.
However, this year’s World Cup has already become a “traffic slogan.” “Safe driving with a disciplined mind even in December” (Kumamoto Prefectural Police, refer to Mr. Ritsu Doan), “Check left and right even at the intersection blue signal” (refer to Mr. Midori Tanaka).
(Sakae)
