Japan players during training ahead of their clash against Costa Rica. Reuters.
Doha: Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu highlighted goalkeeper Keylor Navas as the biggest obstacle to overcome if the Samurai Blue are to beat Costa Rica in their second match of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group E today.
Japan can book their place in the round of 16 for the second time in a row with a win against Costa Rica at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, provided Germany fail to defeat Spain in the other encounter of the group.
The Samurai Blue had come from a goal down against Germany to record a 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano, but Moriyasu is adamant his side need to put the famous win behind them.
“Yes, we won against Germany. It was a historical win, but we have already switched our attention and feelings towards Costa Rica. We move forward,” said the 54-year-old coach.
“For me, it was not a surprise, we have quality and experienced players with many who play in the German League just like Germany players. It is difficult for me to choose the starting XI out of the 26 players that we have, but I know that we have great players who are ready to play at any point. We are all united as one team.
“They have a lot of good players, I don’t want to choose specific ones because maybe then that motivates them against us, but if I have to, I would say Keylor Navas is an experienced goalkeeper and we will have to get past him should we get a result against them.
Costa Rica players take part in a training session at the Al Ahli SC training camp in Doha, yesterday. AFP
Costa Rica had fallen to their heaviest-ever FIFA World Cup defeat on the opening matchday of the group, losing to Spain 7-0, but Moriyasu insists this result has no bearing on their expectations for the Sunday encounter.
“We spoke about the situation, and I mentioned it to the players in our meetings. It is not about that score but about how we are going to play against them as we always do. So first we have to have a good defence then play the same way we always do. We just want to focus on winning.”
Japan have only faced CONCACAF opponents in the World Cup on one occasion, losing 2-1 to Jamaica on their maiden appearance in France 1998. Meanwhile, Costa Rica have only faced one AFC team in the competition, winning 2-0 against China PR in Korea/Japan 2002.
Los Ticos’ head coach Luis Fernando Suarez was determined to push his side to move on from their Matchday One hammering at the hands of Spain.
“We don’t need to think about this as something that will happen again. We need to use it to motivate us,” said Suarez.
“We need to think about winning because we want to qualify to the next round. This is a completely different game to the previous one. As long as we have the possibility, we will leave everything on the pitch.”
When: Today at 1:00pm
Where: Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium (Capacity: 45,032)
Key stats:
- Japan stunned Germany 2-1 in their opening game, registering their first win over the four-times world champions, while Costa Rica were hammered 7-0 by Spain.
- Japan are playing in their seventh successive World Cup, having started that run at France in 1998.
- Costa Rica are playing at a third successive World Cup for the first time.
- Japan's Eiji Kawashima and Yuto Nagatomo are both appearing at their fourth World Cup. Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and Seigo Narazaki were the only two Japanese players who had previously appeared at four.
Previous meetings:
- The teams have met five times, all in international friendlies, with Japan winning four games and the other ending in a draw.
