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This season has been a strange one for Japan's star players Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa. The former is still adjusting to life at Milan after moving from CSKA Moscow in January, while the latter was not fully trusted by David Moyes at Manchester United.
But it is an opprortunity for the duo to show the world what they are capable of and they spearhead a strong Japan squad that contains a strong European presence with players drawn from the Bundesliga, Premier League and Serie A among others.
While the Confederations Cup ended in disappointment, they have the advantage of tournament experience in Brazil and have also picked up favourable results in November friendlies against Netherlands and Belgium.
The Blue Samurai will be targeting qualification from a tricky group including Ivory Coast, Colombia and Greece but have the potential to go as far as the last-8 if all goes to plan.
Team 33 analysed Japan's chances with The Guardian and The Blizzard contributor Ben Mabley which you can listen to by clicking here.
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World Cup Record
Appearances: 5
Best Results: Second Round (2002 and 2010)
Squad
Goalkeepers: Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Reds), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo).
Defenders: Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo), Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Masahiko Inoha (Jubilo Iwata), Atsuto Uchida (Schalke 04), Hiroki Sakai (Hannover 96), Gotoku Sakai (VfB Stuttgart)
Midfielders: Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Makoto Hasebe (FC Nuremberg), Hiroshi Kiyotake (FC Nuremberg), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka), Manabu Saito (Yokohama F. Marinos), Toshihiro Aoyama (Sanfrecce Hiroshima)
Forwards: Shinji Okazaki (Mainz), Yuya Osako (TSV Munich 1860), Yoshito Okubo (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoichiro Kakitani (Cerezo Osaka).
Fixtures and Results
Group C
June 14 vs Ivory Coast (Recife) 2 - 1 (L)
June 19 vs Greece (Natal) 0 - 0 (D)
June 24 vs Colombia (Cuiaba) 4 - 1 (L)
