Taniguchi does not have the pace imo, personally feel he can be abit slow at times. Personally feel Junnosuke Suzuki might potentially be a better choice overall.
Machida ok sure but Suzuki has 4 caps and is too inexperienced to start in World Cup games depending on who the opponent is.
Sure, I still rate him over Taniguchi though. Itakura has a side that is little shaky, to inconsistent. And things in Ajax are really bad. There is also Takai who was on his way into the A team before the injury.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Final Draw pots Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, IR Iran, Korea Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Australia Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Côte d’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, European Play-Off A, B, C and D, FIFA Play-Off Tournament 1 and 2
I'd hope for Canada, Japan, Scotland, New Zealand , but my guts tells me it's gonna be a European team, one from the Americas (South or North), and an African one.
This is... "strangely good"? I think JNT can beat everyone from Pot 3 and 4 and this means guaranteed Final16. But as we know everytime Japan thought to draw good sheet happened while everytime Japan thought to be damned everything gone smooth.
At "worse", they'll be among the best third-placed team in the group although that should not be the goal obviously.
Would say of the 4 Asian team in pot 2 they got the hardest group. Got Tunisia from pot 3, which would have been nice to avoid. At least didn't get Norway there.
Japan can, under Moriyasu, always count on troubling the strongest team. So, I have faith against the Netherlands. Tunisia will be the big test - they'll play more defensively and Moriyasu must show a clear plan to generate many shots in that game. The bad thing is that the 4. placed team will be unknown until March.
In 2010, they more than held their own against the Netherlands and that was one of the best Dutch team in recent decades. They also beat Tunisia in a World Cup before (in 2002).
Japan is already one of the strongest footballing nations now (this is POV of a purely neutral fan), you guys gotta stop thinking you are some minnows that need to avoid every possible decent team in the draw to make it through unlike the other AFC teams. I mean on a good day your team can beat the likes of Belgium, Croatia and Germany so teams like Netherlands, Tunisia and Ukraine shouldn't scare you at all. Did you guys forget you topped a group with Spain and Germany in it last time
A World Cup is never straight forward, nobody expected Japan to top that group in 2022 and they still lost to Costa Rica and got knocked out in the round of 16 again.
Such combinations are useless, because nobody can be certain how other groups will end. Last World Cup was the perfect example - because of Japan! Germany were knocked out, while Spain ran into Morocco (not Croatia) and got beat! I can only make conclusions based on Japan's matches under Moriyasu, which show a consistent ability to fight the giants of football. After Norway, Japan is another dark horse.
Right! The WC is so unpredictable. Let's hope for the best and pray that the players be healthy and available for the WC.