TEAM: Japan (The Blue Samurai)
HOW THEY QUALIFIED: Winners Of 2011 AFC Asian Cup
SUMMARY OF THEIR TOURNAMENT
Placed on Group A alongside Brazil, Italy and Mexico, they started off with a 3-0 defeat against the host nation but played some of the most delightful attacking football in the tournament as they served a classic game against the Azzurri which was only won by a Sebastian Giovinco tap-in. They served a similar thing in the game against Mexico but a double from Javier Hernandez consigned them to a campaign of successive defeats.
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
Due to the attacking nature of their play, their standout performers have been Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki They have had a good tournament scoring three goals between them and Kagawa setting up one more . Though they conceded quite a lot, Eiji Kawashima was also a top performer for the Blue Samurai in between the posts making crucial saves at times.
COMMENT
Having already qualified to the 2014 showpiece in Brazil, Coach Alberto Zaccheroni has minor problems as he has to find a strong center forward to compliment the efforts of Honda, Kagawa and Okazaki. Also he needs to find good defenders as most of their work up front was undone by some shoddy defensive work at the back. If attended to, they will go beyond their best of an appearance at the round of 16.
Position: 7th
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