Japan drawn against Colombia, Poland, Senegal in World Cup

Hell, that's not bad. Could be an interesting group.

"It will be important how we cope with players who are almost two metres tall,"

Wow... Here I thought it was a decent group and Japan had a good chance but already the excuses for the loss are coming out.

Happened to see a guy on TV say that no team has ever won the world cup with a foreign manager. In other words, all teams that have won had one of their own countrymen as the manager.

I am sure if this is incorrect, someone will comment on that, but does not look good for Japan if that is true.

Group H is a very soft group for Japan. Poland is very susceptible to Japan's style and Colombia was trounced rather convincingly by a ragtag Korea a month ago. Senegal is bit of a wild card.

Japan needs to chill with the avenge and "get revenge" talk when referring to sports. You play to win not "get back" at other teams.

Japan may have trouble with Lewandowski, one of the best strikers in the world, and Mane, who's in form for Liverpool at the moment. As for Colombia, that already a loss. The group is still wide open. England vs Japan a possibility in the next round!

I would suggest that this is the best opportunity Japan has had at the World Cup with that draw. Australia on the other hand has France (a tournament favourite), Denmark (former European Champions) and Peru :( :( :( lol

@Nippori Nick I believe you are right. Gus Hiddink took Korea to the semis in 2002, that’s the closest.

It’s irrelevant anyway, Japan is nowhere near good enough to win it yet.

Could have been worse and Japan is in a very interesting group. The bookies have Japan to finish bottom but they aren't big outsiders. In with a shot.

@Nippori Nick I believe you are right. Gus Hiddink took Korea to the semis in 2002, that’s the closest.

Riiiiiiiight, yea, they went to the semis all based on merit. hahahahahhahahha

Looks like it'll be a short campaign for Japan then.

Looks like it'll be a short campaign for Japan then.

Not necessarily. If I was forced to bet, I'd put money on them not qualifying but I wouldn't be at all confident. One worry for Japan is the three other sides in the group all have at least one outstanding player capable of something extraordinary ( Lewandowski, Mane, Rodriguez ). Japan doesn't really have that. Then again, still plenty of time for injuries.

England will find a way to bottle it and will finish at the bottom of their group.

Riiiiiiiight, yea, they went to the semis all based on merit. hahahahahhahahha

Old style football; my ball, my rules! Still a great achievement though, I remember it annoying Japanese people immensely back in 2002.

England will find a way to bottle it and will finish at the bottom of their group.

Possibly, and I'm sure you are hoping for that but at least they qualified. Good to see one of the home countries there. Look at Iceland - population 300,000 but won their group. At least NI got to the playoffs and gave the Swiss a real run for their money. Scotland and Wales went out with a whimper. Scotland and Wales left at home again.

Score predictions

Senegal 2 Japan 0

Colombia 3 Japan 1

Poland 3 Japan 0

Bright side is Korea has it even worse and will get absolutely hammered. Predictions

Germany 5 Korea 0

Sweden 3 Korea 0

Mexico 3 Korea 1

If you think Japan has a chance in this pool, the odd clearly predicts you are a bandwagon fan.

Not an easy group for Japan but considering it was either Germany/Mexico/Sweden or Poland/Senegal/Colombia I reckon most J supporters would be pretty happy with the draw. (J commentator breathing a sigh of relief when SK were picked says it all ;)

Still think they are the co-weakest team of the group (alongside Senegal) but who knows. SA teams tend to play a more technical but slower paced brand of football something that may suit Japan.

@Nippori Nick

Whatever the nationality of the manager I don't think Japan are ever going to win the World Cup.

Jimzo

im a jock and disappointed at not going. We should be though. Should be based on games won lost drawn and not on goals. If it were, we’d be going. It ain’t so tough!

that said I’ll be supporting Japan. But they have no hope. Will lose every game in the group. They just won’t have the upper strength to deal with these huge E. Europeans and Africans.

Hope im wrong and they at least make it second.

Nan Ferra: "Bright side is Korea has it even worse and will get absolutely hammered."

This is only the "bright side" for an insecure person who gets a kick out of others doing worse than them, rather than just supporting your team, the sport, and hoping people do their best. What a shame.

im a jock and disappointed at not going. We should be though. Should be based on games won lost drawn and not on goals. If it were, we’d be going. It ain’t so tough!

that said I’ll be supporting Japan. But they have no hope. Will lose every game in the group. They just won’t have the upper strength to deal with these huge E. Europeans and Africans.

I’d like to see all 4 of us in the competition plus Ireland. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of piss-taking but the pure bile from some is childish and pathetic.

Japan has done well in some previous world cups against the likes of the giant Danes. I think they’ll struggle more against the speedsters like Mane.

NHK news put it like this: All the three other countries in Japan's group are ranked much higher. But.........none of them have won the world cup before. Christ, talk about putting a positive spin on things.

hey just won’t have the upper strength to deal with these huge E. Europeans and Africans.

Oh dear, if it's not strength, it's height, or size or the type of grass. How about skill and tactics? Are we now making excuses again before the games have even started?

I saw a Brazilian football TV show organized by football experts, commentators and others predicted Colombia and Japan going up to tournament that could be a miracle, this so called "dark horse Japan" to go up.

Old style football; my ball, my rules! Still a great achievement though, I remember it annoying Japanese people immensely back in 2002.

Actually, it really pissed off a couple of Italians who that I met. There were other people, non-Japanese, that said they cheated. Honestly, I didn't watch the game and questioned at the time whether it was because of home field advantage. Also, I remember reading that the Japanese supported Korea since they were the only Asians to go that far. I wish I remember where I read that.

It's quite obvious that Japan has close to zero chance to win the world cup. I'm pretty sure most Japanese will agree but they are excited to see how far they can get close to winning it. So, the group they are in will depend on how the opposing teams are ranked. It will be interesting to see if they can make it out of the knockout stage.

Agree..Japan has close to zero chance of winning, but "there is a chance".

Italy? Now they have zero chance, thank goodness.

There is a chance but it's more like watching how far they can go. I'm sure most Japanese are expecting the same. What they don't expect is to play pitiful since they are not a terrible team despite their ranking.

Looks as if a lot of people had pulled out their crystal ball to see the future.LoL