On Tuesday 12 October, the SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) played their fourth match of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ Asian qualifiers (Road to Qatar) against the Australia National Team at Saitama Stadium 2002, where the team won 2-1 after the shot taken by ASANO Takuma (VfL Bochum 1848) induced an own goal in the closing minutes of the match.

Japan had lost two of their previous three matches and were now six points behind Australia and Saudi Arabia, who had won three matches in a row. The team desperately needed to win this match in order to finish in the top two spots of their group, which would automatically qualify them into the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™.

Entering this critical match, Japan rotated three players from their line-up against Saudi Arabia, in which they lost 0-1 on Thursday 7 October. With the team shifting their system to 4-3-3, ITO Junya (KRC Genk) made his return from suspension to start as the right winger, while MORITA Hidemasa (CD Santa Clara) and TANAKA Ao (Fortuna Dusseldorf) made their first start as central midfielders in this qualifier, with ENDO Wataru (VfB Stuttgart) anchoring the midfield as the defensive midfielder. .....

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