2019 Women's World Cup: Getting to know Team Japan
With the 2019 Women’s World Cup less than a month out, we here at For The Win wanted to preview every team that will feature in this tournament. We’ve already looked at the U.S. Women’s National team and a host of other squads.
Let’s continue now with Team Japan.
Japan Group D schedule
Monday, June 10, Noon ET vs. Argentina
Friday, June 14, 9 a.m. ET vs. Scotland
Wednesday, June 19, 3 p.m. ET vs. England
Key players
Japan enters this World Cup with a very young squad. After back-to-back World Cup final appearances, coach Asako Takakura has gone young, bringing in a host of U-23 players to inject energy and life into the squad. Also, with the 2020 Olympics being held in Tokyo, Takakura may be viewing this World Cup as a sort of tune-up for that tournament next summer.
Here are some of the key players who should make an impact for Japan:
Mana Iwabuchi
Iwabuchi is, at 26 years old, actually one of the veterans of the side. The striker has already had an accomplished club career, bursting onto the scene at a young age and joining on with Hoffenheim and then Bayern Munich. She recently returned to Japan to play with INAC Kobe Leonessa after a string of injuries, and will look to return to form this summer. She’s scored 20 goals in 61 caps for the Japan side, and will most likely play serious minutes up top this summer.
Yui Hasegawa
Hasegawa is just 22 years old but has already been capped 30 times for her national team, scoring 6 goals for the side. A midfielder, Hasegawa isn’t afraid to get forward, and has a burst of pace that can cause problems for defenses when making runs in from deeper positions.
Japan loves to pass the ball in the midfield, almost to a fault, and Hasegawa provides a spark and can drive the team forward.
Aya Sameshima
Sameshina will (most likely) serve as captain for Japan at the World Cup, and the 31-year-old will be relied on to provide experience and leadership from the back. At the SheBelievesCup this summer, which Japan made the final before dropping to England, Sameshina was a calming presence, but she will need to work on Japan’s focus — the team still has a habit of giving up goals in bunches. In the final, they dropped 3-0 down to England before settling in and completely controlling the game. Still, they never found their goal.
Recent World Cup history
Japan has made the previous two World Cup finals, winning in 2011 in penalty kicks and then dropping to the United States in 2015 thanks to an otherworldly performance from Carli Lloyd and the rest of the United States women’s national team.
Expectations aren’t quite so high this time around, but Japan did make the final at the SheBelieves Cup this summer, and if they young players get going and find confidence, another final appearance isn’t out of the question.
What experts are saying about Japan
Reporters at the pre-World Cup training camp noted that Takakura is keeping things extremely light and fun, perhaps in an attempt not to try and overwhelm the young side ahead of the major international tournament.
Takakura is keen to keep preparations light and enjoyable for her players before the hard work begins in France.
“We will be together for a long time and individually there will be tense moments, ups and downs, so I told the squad let’s enjoy,” Takakura told reporters after the first day of camp in Narashino, near Tokyo.
“Each player has to remember that you move forward, not go backwards.”
That seems to be the general mood around this side, almost like they’re playing with house money — it’s a young squad, they’re gearing up for the Olympics next summer, they’ll try to make a run and win some games and if they do, fantastic.
Over at Huffington Post, Travis Waldron noted that Japan “sits a bit behind the rest of the major contenders,” but warns that you should “doubt them at your own risk.”
Waldron continues:
This version is young and raw, and winning a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is a major priority. They’ve beaten Brazil and drawn the United States and Germany already this year and may be rounding into shape at exactly the right time.
How to be a fan
The team is called the Nadeshiko, so if you want to be in on the parlance, there you go. Japan is a perpetually underrated powerhouse in the women’s game. They pass beautifully, they love to possess the ball, and they’ve shown time and time again they can break down the giants of world soccer.
France, England, and Germany are all trendy picks this time around, but with this young, likable team, it wouldn’t be surprising if they made another run at a final.