Japan will be hoping it is seventh time lucky in Qatar, as they launch their latest bid to make a run deep into the World Cup knockout stages.
Having qualified for the last six consecutive tournaments prior to 2022, the Samurai Blue's appearances on the biggest stage in football have followed a familiar pattern, as they have switched between exits at the group stage and defeat in the Round of 16.
At Russia 2018, they were beaten at that last-16 stage by eventual semifinalists Belgium.
Four years on, they will be looking to overcome that barrier as they face Croatia in the Round of 16. Their wins over Germany and Spain that helped them top the group will give them great confidence to defeat a Croatia side not at their best so far.
Still, manager Hajime Moriyasu has a settled squad and was the first coach from any of the competing nations to announce his final 26-man squad for the tournament.
Here we look at who will carry the Samurai Blue's challenge in Qatar.
MORE: Japan's opponents at Qatar 2022: Group E in profile
Final 26-man Japan World Cup squad
Moriyasu had until Friday, October 21 to submit an official preliminary list of up to 55 players to FIFA, from which he selected his final 26-man roster for Qatar, the deadline for which was Monday, November 14.
The Blue Samurai coach opted to go early, and did not make his preliminary squad public, instead cutting straight to his final 26 names, who were announced at a press conference on November 1.
That list was temporarily reduced to 25 players with Yuta Nakayama ruled out with injury, before Shuto Machino was named as his replacement.
The most notable absences at the time were Celtic pair Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate, although club teammate Daizen Maeda made the cut and has started several matches at center forward.
Vissel Kobe forward Yuya Osako and Union Berlin midfielder Genki Haraguchi were also omissions, but Nagoya Grampus winger Yuki Soma earned a surprise call.
Daichi Kamada and Takefusa Kubo add star quality to the squad, and are tasked with providing the creativity to unlock the opposition in the knockout rounds.
Experience comes in the form of captain Maya Yoshida and Hiroki Sakai, who will feature in their third straight World Cup, while 39-year-old goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima make a fourth trip to the finals.
Here's a look at the players who made Japan's final list:
| Position | No. | Player | Club | Age | Caps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | 1 | Eiji Kawashima | Strasbourg (FRA) | 39 | 95 |
| GK | 12 | Shuichi Gonda | Shimizu S-Pulse (JPN) | 33 | 34 |
| GK | 23 | Daniel Schmidt | Sint-Truiden (BEL) | 30 | 11 |
| DEF | 5 | Yuto Nagatomo | Tokyo (JPN) | 36 | 138 |
| DEF | 22 | Maya Yoshida | Schalke (GER) | 34 | 122 |
| DEF | 19 | Hiroki Sakai | Urawa Red Diamonds (JPN) | 32 | 72 |
| DEF | 16 | Takehiro Tomiyasu | Arsenal (ENG) | 23 | 29 |
| DEF | 2 | Miki Yamane | Kawasaki Frontale (JPN) | 28 | 15 |
| DEF | 3 | Shogo Taniguchi | Kawasaki Frontale (JPN) | 31 | 14 |
| DEF | 4 | Kou Itakura | Borussia Monchengladbach (GER) | 25 | 13 |
| DEF | 26 | Hiroki Ito | Stuttgart (GER) | 23 | 6 |
| MID | 7 | Gaku Shibasaki | Leganes (SPA) | 30 | 60 |
| MID | 6 | Wataru Endo | Stuttgart (GER) | 29 | 43 |
| MID | 10 | Takumi Minamino | Monaco (FRA) | 27 | 44 |
| MID | 14 | Junya Ito | Reims (FRA) | 29 | 38 |
| MID | 8 | Ritsu Doan | Freiburg (GER) | 24 | 29 |
| MID | 15 | Daichi Kamada | Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) | 26 | 22 |
| MID | 11 | Takefusa Kubo | Real Sociedad (SPA) | 21 | 20 |
| MID | 13 | Hidemasa Morita | Sporting (POR) | 27 | 17 |
| MID | 17 | Ao Tanaka | Fortuna Dusseldorf (GER) | 24 | 15 |
| MID | 9 | Kaoru Mitoma | Brighton (ENG) | 25 | 9 |
| MID | 24 | Yuki Soma | Nagoya Grampus (JPN) | 25 | 8 |
| FWD | 18 | Takuma Asano | Bochum (GER) | 27 | 37 |
| FWD | 21 | Ayase Ueda | Club Brugge (BEL) | 24 | 11 |
| FWD | 25 | Daizen Maeda | Celtic (SCO) | 25 | 8 |
| FWD | 20 | Shuto Machino | Shonan Bellmare (JPN) | 23 | 4 |
WORLD CUP 2022 SELECTED SQUADS:
Australia | Argentina | Belgium | Brazil | Cameroon
Canada | Costa Rica | Croatia | Denmark | England
France | Germany | Ghana | Iran | Japan | Mexico
Netherlands | Poland | Portugal | Qatar | Senegal
Serbia | Spain | Switzerland | Uruguay | USA | Wales
Reo Hatate was always an outsider, but very surprised Kyogo Furuhashi hasn't been selected in Japan's squad for the World Cup.
— Sacha Pisani (@Sachk0) November 1, 2022
No room in a 26-player squad?
Daizen Maeda Celtic's sole Samurai Blue representative. pic.twitter.com/In8hzmRhLl
Japan World Cup group
Group E was arguably one of the toughest in Qatar, and Japan not only made it out of the group, but they won it.
A shock early win against Germany set them up well to progress, but a loss to Costa Rica was a blow. They pulled off another upset by defeating Spain in the group finale to finish ahead of the two Euro giants.
World Cup Group E final table
| Team | PTS | GP | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Japan-Q | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 |
| 2. Spain-Q | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 |
| 3. Germany-E | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 |
| 4. Costa Rica-E | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 11 | -8 |
- Q = Qualified to Round of 16
- E = Eliminated
Japan Group E fixtures and match schedule
| Date | Match | Time (ET) | Stadium |
| Wed, Nov. 23 | Germany 1, Japan 2 | 8 a.m. | Khalifa Int'l |
| Sun, Nov. 27 | Japan 0, Costa Rica 1 | 5 a.m. | Ahmad Bin Ali |
| Thurs, Dec. 1 | Spain 1, Japan 2 | 2 p.m. | Khalifa Int'l |
Can Japan replace players on World Cup roster?
Once the final 26-man roster is official, participating teams at the World Cup were only able to make changes before the first game of the tournament, and only in the case of extraordinary circumstances.
According to the official tournament rules, "a player listed on the final list may only be replaced in the event of serious injury or illness up until 24 hours before the start of his team's first match."
The team in question would have needed to submit a medical report to FIFA and if the world governing body determined "the injury or illness is sufficiently serious to prevent the player from taking part in the FIFA World Cup" then the replacement was allowed.
The replacement player would have had to come from the preliminary list of players submitted to FIFA in October.
In Japan's case, they invoked this rule, after Machino was called up to replace Nakayama on November 8.