The Samurai Blue are going to the USA, Mexico, and Canada.
Japan became the first country in the world to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, other than the hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
The Samurai Blue cut short their qualifying journey with a 2-0 victory over Bahrain on Matchday 7 out of 10, which means their remaining three games against Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Indonesia are now dead rubber.
Japan did not have it easy against Bahrain at first, despite playing in their own backyard at the Saitama Stadium near Tokyo. The plucky visitors held the Asian giants to a 0-0 stalemate at halftime. However, some lovely link-up play eventually saw Daichi Kamada, formerly of Eintracht Frankfurt and now of Crystal Palace, open the scoring. Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo then scored from a very tight angle to wrap up the win and send Japan through to the World Cup finals.
Japan has reached the round of 16 in three out of the five World Cup tournaments held in the 21st century, including one they co-hosted with South Korea in 2002. In the last edition, they famously beat both Germany and Spain to top their group before narrowly losing on penalties to Croatia.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s Hiroki Ito celebrated his comeback to the national team in style, playing the full 90 minutes and contributing to one of the goals.
It remains to be seen how coach Hajime Moriyasu will approach his remaining three games, whether he will test out new players or strengthen his core squad. However, from a Bayern Munich fan’s perspective, one hopes that Moriyasu will spare Ito from the strenuous travel from Japan to Germany, especially since Japan’s penultimate game includes a long-distance trip to Perth, Australia.
