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Japan

Group F | World ranking: 18

Qualification: Won Asia Group B
Coach: Zico
Key Players: Shinji Ono (midfielder), Shunsuke Nakamura (midfielder), Hidetoshi Nakata (midfielder)
Past Record: Group stage 1998; Last 16 2002

Group F Matches:
June 12: Australia (Kaiserslautern)
June 18: Croatia (Nuremberg)
June 22: Brazil (Dortmund)

Under the leadership of Brazilian legend Zico, Japan won 11 out of their 12 qualifying games to comfortably seal their third successive place in the World Cup finals. The nation had to watch as joint hosts South Korea took all the plaudits four years ago and a place in the last 16 will be considered a success from a potentially tricky group. Strong in midfield, with Nakamura having a particularly impressive season with Scottish champions Celtic, it is in attack where Zico will be hoping some of his magic will rub off on his players.

Squad

Goalkeepers:
1. Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight)
12. Yoichi Doi (FC Tokyo)
23. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata)

Defenders:
2. Teruyuki Moniwa (FC Tokyo)
3. Yuichi Komano (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
5. Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka)
6. Koji Nakata (Basel, Switzerland)
14. Alessandro Santos (Urawa Reds)
19. Keisuke Tsuboi (Urawa Reds)
21. Akira Kaji (Gamba Osaka)
22. Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F Marinos)

Midfielders:
4. Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka)
7. Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton Wanderers)
8. Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima Antlers)
10. Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic)
15. Takashi Fukunishi (Jubilo Iwata)
17. Junichi Inamoto (West Bromwich Albion)
18. Shinji Ono (Urawa Reds)

Forwards:
9. Naohiro Takahara (Hamburg)
11. Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba)
13. Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima Antlers)
16. Masashi Oguro (Grenoble)
20. Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus Eight)

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