World Cup Record: Last 16, 2002
Manager: Takeshi Osada
Key Player: Shunsuke Nakamura
Qualified: 2nd, Group 1, Asia
Odds: 150/1

Since first qualifying for the World Cup in France ’98, Japan have been ever present at the finals tournament and South Africa 2010 will be their fourth consecutive appearance. Finishing second behind Australia, they qualified well ahead of Bahrain, Qatar & Uzbekistan but far sterner tests await this summer. Coach Takeshi Osada’s stated aim of a semi-final place is nothing if not ambitious, but progress out of the group stage is a more realistic target. The now retired Hidetoshi Nakata & ex-Gunner Junichi Inamoto brought the attention of the football world at large to the emerging talent in the Far East. Inamoto is still involved but Espanyol’s Shunsuke Nakamura is the most high profile player of the current squad, with young midfielder Keisuke Honda starting to make waves in the Dutch Eredivisie. One of the things that should work in their favour is the structure of the J-League which runs from February to December. As opposed to the European-based players for whom the World Cup will come at the end of a long, gruelling season, the Japanese squad – the vast majority of whom still play at home – should be relatively fresh. And given the high-tempo, non-stop energy of their pressing game they could yet ruffle a few feathers in South Africa.

Shunsuke Nakamura

Age: 31
Position: Midfield
Club: Espanyol
Caps: 91 (23 goals)

Following three seasons with Reggina in Italy, Nakamura moved to Celtic in 2005 and quickly established himself as a fans favourite. A dead ball specialist with tremendous touch and vision, he won 3 SPL titles in four years before moving on to La Liga with Espanyol. Although coach Osada has received some criticism for his supposed dependence on Nakamura, there’s no doubt that the form and fitness of their talismanic Number 10 will go along way towards determining how far the “Blue Samurai” progress this summer.