Hajime Moriyasu

Their ire was directed at one man in particular: coach Hong Myung-bo, a former captain and footballing hero now faulted for his team's unimpressive run on the biggest sporting stage

The energy levels could not be sustained, the Samurai Blue dropped too deep and eventually were undone in the 96th minute to lose 2-1 in this last-32 clash

It may be inexplicable but the Carlo Ancelotti method that worked at Real Madrid is working again: stay in games and eventually either opponents will make a mistake or brilliant players will do something brilliant

Berlin: Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, while speaking to German broadcaster Magenta TV, questioned the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decision that ruled out Jonathan Tah's extra-time goal during Germany's FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 32 defeat to Paraguay

Brazil opened their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against Morocco

Japan and Sweden played out a tactical, hard-fought 1-1 stalemate at Dallas Stadium, leaving the Group F qualification picture perfectly poised

If Japan achieves a better result against the Swedes in Dallas on Thursday than the Netherlands do against already-eliminated Tunisia, they will advance in first place from the group and avoid Brazil in the last 32

Beau Dure is a sports journalist and author of several soccer books

Fresh from a 2-2 draw with the Netherlands in Texas, Japan face a Tunisia side smarting from being thrashed 5-1 by Sweden in Group F

Ronaldo's message comes as Portugal prepare to begin their World Cup campaign and look to make a strong start to the tournament

Minutes after Daichi Kamada's equaliser, Japanese supporters at AT&T Stadium in Dallas were seen collecting litter around their seats, filling large plastic bags they had brought with them and leaving the stands spotless before heading home

The Dallas stadium is a vast concrete spaceship dumped down off the freeway intersection beyond the city limits

The 2026 World Cup has spiked in quality with Netherlands and Japan delivering a gripping 2-2 draw in Dallas

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will witness a dream lineup of football superstars as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappé all feature on a blockbuster day of group-stage action

Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu on Saturday described Wataru Endo as "hurt" and apologized after torpedoing the captain's World Cup dreams on the eve of the tournament

Soccer ranked somewhere around America's 67th favorite sport behind—as the joke goes—tractor pulling

Japan captain Wataru Endo is in a race to be fit for their World Cup opener against the Netherlands on Sunday, leaving coach Hajime Moriyasu "praying" he makes it

Group G has one country that believed it would be vying for a trophy of its own these past few cycles, but hasn't reached its full potential

Japan have offered an early glimpse into the potential impact of football's new rules after exploiting a recent change to secure a 1-0 friendly victory over Iceland

Contesting their sixth successive World Cup, Switzerland's consistency in ‌qualifying is matched only by the predictability of their exits, vexed by the hex of round-of-16 eliminations in five of their past six tournaments

Japan have never gone beyond the last 16 at a World Cup but they were the first team to qualify and their soaring confidence has been boosted by impressive recent results

The 28-year-old suffered a hamstring injury during Brighton’s 3-0 win over Wolves in the EPL last weekend

Friendly wins over Brazil and Colombia lifted France above Spain and Argentina, with Les Bleus reclaiming top spot for the first time since September 2018 in a tightly contested top three separated by only marginal points differences

Japan made history with its first ever win against England as Kaoru Mitoma sealed a 1-0 victory in Tuesday's friendly at Wembley

The hope is that these games will help set the scene for a similarly sensational Japanese summer, especially given this Samurai Blue side are much further along the developmental journey than their east Asian neighbours were 24 years ago and the victory at Hampden Park was a comfortable one for what was a fairly experimental team