Although easily topped ahead of host Vietnam and two Arab rivals, Qatar and the UAE, the Japanese were totally exhausted in their game against Australia, where Japan won only by penalty shootout. After the Asian Cup, Aguirre was sacked following allegations of corruption during a prior tenure. Their second match ended in a draw against Senegal, with one goal scored by Takashi Inui and the other by Keisuke Honda. Nevertheless, the game was promoted in Japanese schools in the 1920s. Please update this article to ... Japan national football team results (2020–present) List of Japan international footballers; To qualify for the second round, they needed a victory against Colombia and needed Greece to beat Ivory Coast. They then faced Iraq and Jordan in their next group matches, which they won 1–0 and 2–0 respectively. 1992:  Japan, 1996:  Saudi Arabia [33] The team, however, got criticized for its defensive approach, as Japan won the group with only one goal margin wins in all three matches and two later knockout stage's matches as Japan only beat fellow powerhouse Saudi Arabia in the round of sixteen and dark horse Vietnam in the quarter-finals both with 1–0 margin. They were in Group C with Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador. On 16 August 2013, CONMEBOL president Eugenio Figueredo announced that Japan was invited to the 2015 Copa América. Japan was the first team from outside the Americas to participate in the Copa América, having been invited in 1999, 2011, 2015, and 2019 editions of the tournament, although they only played in the 1999 and 2019 events. Jump to navigation Jump to search. In the first knockout round, Japan were eliminated from the competition following penalties after a 0–0 draw against Paraguay, but received praises for its outstanding performances. Two years later, Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with South Korea. Although the team does not have an official nickname as such, it is often known by the name of the manager. The team has also finished second in the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. The current head coach is Hajime Moriyasu, who is also the current coach of the Japan U-23 team. [40] Aftermath saw Japan played a friendly game against the Paraguayans, and won 2–0 at home. [7], Japan's earliest international matches were at the 1917 Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo, where it was represented by a team from the Tokyo Higher Normal School. Japan then started their road to 2014 World Cup in Brazil with numerous qualifiers. Japan won its opening match at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Group D against Asian Cup debutantes Palestine 4–0, with goals from Yasuhito Endō, Shinji Okazaki, Keisuke Honda via a penalty and Maya Yoshida.