Japan underline status as Asia's best World Cup hope in mixed window

## Summary
Advertisement Sport Japan underline status as Asia's best World Cup hope in mixed window Soccer Football - International Friendly - Japan Press Conference - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain- March 30, 2026 Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu during the press conference Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley Soccer Football - International Friendly - South Korea v Ivory Coast - Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, Britain - March 28, 2026 South Korea coach Myung-Bo Hong during a press conference after the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers 04 Apr 2026 11:36AM Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST April 4 : Wins over England and Scotland underline Japan's status as the Asian nation most likely to make a major impact at the World Cup during an international window of mixed fortunes for the continent's qualifiers for this summer's finals. CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less "Come the World Cup, we must be able to do many things, we must have many styles of play," said Moriyasu, whose side have won their last five matches and who will face the Netherlands, Sweden and Tunisia at the finals. "Offensively we must be able to attack slowly as well as attacking on the counterattack, which will be faster offensively. "We saw against Scotland, they played a very defensive style and we saw England play with a very high-pressing team so we have to manage the play against various types of opponent and I'm confident that we can do that at the World Cup as well." South Korean coach Hong Myung-bo was left with plenty to ponder after a pair of defeats, as Tuesday's 1-0 loss against Austria came in the wake of a 4-0 thrashing by Ivory Coast. "We've finished our experiments in terms of our positional balance and player combinations," said Hong, whose team will meet co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and Czech Republic. "Our tactics are almost set. We have to finish our player selection by mid-May, and we will watch K-League matches closely and analyse our data to pick the players that we think will perform well at the World Cup." Australia won back-to-back clashes with Cameroon and Curacao in FIFA Series matches in Sydney and Melbourne, while Uzbekistan, preparing for their first World Cup appearance, won 3-1 against Gabon before sealing a penalty shootout win over Venezuela.

## Article Content
Advertisement
Sport
Japan underline status as Asia's best World Cup hope in mixed window
Soccer Football - International Friendly - Japan Press Conference - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain- March 30, 2026 Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu during the press conference Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley
Soccer Football - International Friendly - South Korea v Ivory Coast - Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, Britain - March 28, 2026 South Korea coach Myung-Bo Hong during a press conference after the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
04 Apr 2026 11:36AM
Bookmark
Bookmark
Share
WhatsApp
Telegram
Facebook
Twitter
Email
LinkedIn
Set CNA as your preferred source on Google
Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results.
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
April 4 : Wins over England and Scotland underline Japan's status as the Asian nation most likely to make a major impact at the World Cup during an international window of mixed fortunes for the continent's qualifiers for this summer's finals.
Iraq's emotional 2-1 victory over Bolivia during the intercontinental playoffs in Mexico took the Gulf state to the World Cup for the first time in 40 years and ensured Asia would have a record nine qualifiers at the tournament.
But while Graham Arnold and his players were celebrating the completion of a qualifying journey that lasted 21 matches over 28 months, the continent's eight other finalists experienced varying levels of satisfaction with their preparations.
The Japanese took the headlines with their 1-0 wins at Hampden Park and Wembley, the first over England by an Asian nation, to give coach Hajime Moriyasu increased belief his team can be among the World Cup contenders.
CNA Games
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less
"Come the World Cup, we must be able to do many things, we must have many styles of play," said Moriyasu, whose side have won their last five matches and who will face the Netherlands, Sweden and Tunisia at the finals.
"Offensively we must be able to attack slowly as well as attacking on the counterattack, which will be faster offensively.
"We saw against Scotland, they played a very defensive style and we saw England play with a very high-pressing team so we have to manage the play against various types of opponent and I'm confident that we can do that at the World Cup as well."
South Korean coach Hong Myung-bo was left with plenty to ponder after a pair of defeats, as Tuesday's 1-0 loss against Austria came in the wake of a 4-0 thrashing by Ivory Coast.
"We've finished our experiments in terms of our positional balance and player combinations," said Hong, whose team will meet co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and Czech Republic.
"Our tactics are almost set. We have to finish our player selection by mid-May, and we will watch K-League matches closely and analyse our data to pick the players that we think will perform well at the World Cup."
Australia won back-to-back clashes with Cameroon and Curacao in FIFA Series matches in Sydney and Melbourne, while Uzbekistan, preparing for their first World Cup appearance, won 3-1 against Gabon before sealing a penalty shootout win over Venezuela.
Jordan, who will also be making their World Cup debut, picked up morale-boosting 2-2 draws against Costa Rica and Nigeria, and Iran lost 2-1 to the Nigerians before winning 5-0 against Costa Rica.
The position of Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard is under renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of a 4-0 loss against Egypt and Tuesday's 2-1 defeat to Serbia while Qatar's scheduled warm-up matches were cancelled due to the ongoing Gulf conflict.
Source: Reuters
Newsletter
Recommended Read
Subscribe to CNA's Recommended Read
A single handpicked story that we think you shouldn't miss. Just one a day.
Sign up for our newsletters
Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox
Subscribe here
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Download here
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Join here
Advertisement
Also worth reading
Content is loading...
Advertisement
Expand to read the full story
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST

---

## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less "Come the World Cup, we must be able to do many things, we must have many styles of play," said Moriyasu, whose side have won their last five matches and who will face the Netherlands, Sweden and Tunisia at the finals. "Offensively we must be able to attack slowly as well as attacking on the counterattack, which will be faster offensively. "We saw against Scotland, they played a very defensive style and we saw England play with a very high-pressing team so we have to manage the play against various types of opponent and I'm confident that we can do that at the World Cup as well." South Korean coach Hong Myung-bo was left with plenty to ponder after a pair of defeats, as Tuesday's 1-0 loss against Austria came in the wake of a 4-0 thrashing by Ivory Coast. "We've finished our experiments in terms of our positional balance and player combinations," said Hong, whose team will meet co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and Czech Republic. "Our tactics are almost set.

### Implications
- Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST April 4 : Wins over England and Scotland underline Japan's status as the Asian nation most likely to make a major impact at the World Cup during an international window of mixed fortunes for the continent's qualifiers for this summer's finals.
- CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less "Come the World Cup, we must be able to do many things, we must have many styles of play," said Moriyasu, whose side have won their last five matches and who will face the Netherlands, Sweden and Tunisia at the finals. "Offensively we must be able to attack slowly as well as attacking on the counterattack, which will be faster offensively. "We saw against Scotland, they played a very defensive style and we saw England play with a very high-pressing team so we have to manage the play against various types of opponent and I'm confident that we can do that at the World Cup as well." South Korean coach Hong Myung-bo was left with plenty to ponder after a pair of defeats, as Tuesday's 1-0 loss against Austria came in the wake of a 4-0 thrashing by Ivory Coast. "We've finished our experiments in terms of our positional balance and player combinations," said Hong, whose team will meet co-hosts Mexico, South Africa and Czech Republic. "Our tactics are almost set.
- We have to finish our player selection by mid-May, and we will watch K-League matches closely and analyse our data to pick the players that we think will perform well at the World Cup." Australia won back-to-back clashes with Cameroon and Curacao in FIFA Series matches in Sydney and Melbourne, while Uzbekistan, preparing for their first World Cup appearance, won 3-1 against Gabon before sealing a penalty shootout win over Venezuela.
- Jordan, who will also be making their World Cup debut, picked up morale-boosting 2-2 draws against Costa Rica and Nigeria, and Iran lost 2-1 to the Nigerians before winning 5-0 against Costa Rica.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers world, cup, fast topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 786.