On Tuesday 30 March, the SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) played in the second round fixture of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Asian qualification against the Mongolia National Team at Fukuda Denshi Arena. Propelled by OSAKO Yuya’s (Werder Bremen) hat-trick, and braces scored by three other players, the Japanese side kept their group lead with a 14-0 victory.
This was the most goals scored by the Japan National Team at the World Cup qualifiers, only second to the match played against the Philippines National Team in the 1968 Mexico Olympics qualifiers, where they scored 15 goals.
For the SAMURAI BLUE, this was their first Asian qualification match since November 2019, as the qualifier was suspended due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19. In this match, Japan started almost an identical line-up from their international friendly match against Korea Republic, which took place five days ago. The only changes were made in the fullback positions, as MATSUBARA Ken (Yokohama F. Marinos) and OGAWA Ryoya (FC Tokyo) were the ones named in the flanks. .....
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