Team profile: Japan

The current Asian Champions head to their third consecutive World Cup Finals and their continual improvement suggests they will be right in the race for a place in the knockout phase.

FIFA Ranking: 18

Coach: Zico

Key players: Hidetoshi Nakata, Naohiro Takahara, Shunsuke Nakamura

World Cup record: Third appearance

Best Finish: Second Round 2002

Qualifying route: Won Asian Group B

Key question: Can Brazilian Zico mastermind the downfall of his homeland?

Squad:

Goalkeepers#
Seigo Narazaki1
Yoichi Doi12
Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi23
Defenders
Teruyuki Moniwa2
Yuichi Komano3
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto5
Koji Nakata6
Alessandro Santos14
Keisuke Tsuboi19
Akira Kaji21
Yuji Nakazawa22
Midfielders
Yasuhito Endo4
Hidetoshi Nakata7
Mitsuo Ogasawara8
Shunsuke Nakamura10
Takashi Fukunishi15
Junichi Inamoto17
Shinji Ono18
Forwards
Naohiro Takahara9
Seiichiro Maki11
Atsushi Yanagisawa13
Masashi Oguro16
Keiji Tamada20

Group matches:

v Australia, 13:00 GMT, Monday 12th June – Kaiserslautern

v Croatia, 13:00 GMT, Sunday 18th June – Nuremberg

v Brazil, 19:00 GMT, Thursday 22nd June – Dortmund

Source: Al Jazeera