March 21 – With goals from Daichi Kamada and Takefusa Kubo in a 2-0 victory against Bahrain, Japan became the first country to qualify for the enlarged 48-team 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
In the second half, substitute Kamada opened the score before Kubo added the second three minutes from time to earn Japan three more points in the qualifiers and a ticket to the global finals next year.
Japan lead Group C by nine points ahead of Australia, who defeated Indonesia 5-1. The first two in each of Asia’s three qualifying groups will clinch qualification for the World Cup with the third- and fourth-placed teams advancing to the play-offs.
The Blue Samurai’s qualification is a reflection of their impressive campaign. In the second round of qualifiers, they enjoyed a perfect record with six wins from six, 24 goals scored and none conceded against North Korea, Syria and Myanmar.
In the current third of qualifying, the Japanese have won all their matches, except for a 1-1 draw against Australia. They defeated China 7-0 and got an impressive 2-0 away victory in Saudi Arabia. In their remaining matches, they will face the Green Falcons and Indonesia at home, and Australia away.
It’s the eighth consecutive time that the Japanese will participate in the World Cup since their debut at France 98 when they lost all their three group games against Argentina, Croatia and Jamaica. Japan have reached the round of 16 on four occasions, including at the last two finals.
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