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Japan national team. AFC (Asia). Nickname: サッカー日本代 (Soccer Nippon Daihyo). Home jersey: dark blue with red trim.
-Japan is in Group C (with Colombia, Greece, and Ivory Coast), ‘2014 FIFA World Cup Group C‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification: 2014 is Japan’s 5th qualification [5th consecutive] out of a 15 possible qualification attempts (1930 & 1934: did not enter; 1938: withdrew; 1950: banned [as a result of sanctions following World War II]; 1954: did not qualify; 1958: did not enter; 1962: did not qualify; 1966: did not enter; 1970 to 1994: did not qualify; 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014: qualified).
Previous WC: 2010, Round of 16 / 2-1-1. Highest WC finish: 2002 & 2010, Round of 16 / 2-1-1.
Population of Japan: 126.6 million {2012 estimate}.
Capital and largest city: Tokyo, pop. 35.6 million (metro area) [city population, aka Tokyo Metropolis, pop. 13.1 million] {2011 figures}.
Japan national team coach, Alberto Zaccheroni. Alberto Zaccheroni.
Japan squad captain, Nürnburg DMF Makoto Hasebe. Makoto Hasebe.
[Note: players below reflect final 2014 WC squad selections.]
Below: Theoretical Best XI for Japan (with 3 other player-options further below) -
Photo and Image credits above -
Japan on globe map, by Connormah at ‘File:Japan (orthographic projection).svg‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Japan map, from Demis Web Map Server/Gallery at www2.demis.nl/worldmap/mapper.asp.
Japan 2014 WC jersey, photo from store.fifa.com.
Coach,
Alberto Zaccheroni, photo unattributed at theovallog.wordpress.com.
Goalkeeper,
Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liège), photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Defenders,
Atsuto Uchida (Schalke 04), photo by AP via english.ahram.org.eg.
Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), photo from gamba-osaka.net/club/player15.
Maya Yoshida (Southampton), photo photo unattributed at football2channel.blog.fc2.com.
Yuto Nagatomo (Internazionale), photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Midfielders,
Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), photo by Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images AsiaPac via zimbio.com
Makoto Hasebe (Nürnberg), photo unattributed at sportinglife.com/football/live/match-report.
Yasuhito Endō (Gamba Osaka), photo from gamba-osaka.net/club/player07.
Attacking MFs/Forwards,
Shinji Okazaki (Mainz), photo by Fredrik von Erichsen via rhein-zeitung.de/sport/fussball.
Keisuke Honda (Milan) photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images via gettyimages.com.
Shinji Kagawa (Manchester Utd), photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images Europe via zimbio.com.
Other player-options,
Hiroki Sakai DF/RB/RMF (Hannover 96), photo by Bongarts/Getty Images via focus.de.
Hiroshi Kiyotake AMF/W (Nürnberg), photo unattributed at ballball.com/ja-jp/team/1-fc-nurnberg.
Yoshito Ōkubo (Kawasaki Frontale), photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images via gettyimages.com.
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Thanks to the contributors at ‘2014 FIFA World Cup qualification‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Thanks to the contributors at ‘Japan national football team‘ (en.wikipedia.org).
Thanks to http://www.transfermarkt.com/en/, for player-position details.
Thanks to Soccerway.com, int.soccerway.com/international/asia/wc-qualifying-asia/2014-brazil/4th-round/group-a/
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