Asia's best team arrived in North America with high hopes of winning the World Cup. But now Japan's dream of winning the World Cup has proven to be a distant dream.
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Japan will never win the World Cup unless its number one sport is football. That's the saying, by Daichi Kamada. This saying came after Japan lost to Brazil in the last 32 of the 2026 World Cup.
Asia's best team arrived in North America with great ambitions to win the World Cup. But now Japan's dream of winning the World Cup has proven to be very distant. Japan has played in the knockout stages of the World Cup five times.
It has not yet been able to win a single match. Baseball is considered more popular in Japan than football. Kamada says that if Japan is to progress in football, this situation must improve. He says, 'If we want to carry the dream of winning the World Cup, the level of Japanese football must be at a higher level.'
The Crystal Palace player argued, 'We must all continue to work on developing Japanese football. As long as it is not Japan's main sport, we cannot win the World Cup.'
Japan was unable to maintain its lead in the first half against Brazil. Brazil's Gabriel Martinelli scored the decisive goal in the 95th minute as the game headed into extra time. With the win, Brazil advanced to the last 16 of the competition, while Japan sought an answer to the question, what does it really take to win the World Cup?
Japanese defender Sogo Taniguchi says, "The way we lost, it's very disappointing. The way we prepared for this World Cup, we should have performed better than we did."
Japan was the first team to qualify for this World Cup. During the preparation for this World Cup, Japan also beat Brazil and England. But before the World Cup started, key players Kaoru Mitoma, Takumi Minamino and Wataru Indo were injured. Japan's league performance, which drew with the Netherlands and Sweden in the league stage, was good.
Therefore, goalkeeper Gion Suzuki says, "The team still has room for improvement. We still look weak in certain aspects. "I think Japanese football still needs improvement." Japan's focus will now turn to the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia in January.
