Group E contenders
Netherlands 
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Route to the finals
The Samurai Blue topped their group in the Third Round of Asia qualifying and were then pitted against Australia, Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan in Group 1 of the Fourth Round.

Their opening 3-2 victory over Bahrain in Manama ended up proving vital as it was ultimately these two teams that were fighting it out for the second automatic qualifying place behind Australia.

In the end four victories, three draws and one loss was enough to see Japan comfortably claim the runner-up spot ahead of their Middle East rivals.

Manager
Takeshi Okada picked up 24 caps for Japan as a player between 1980 and ’85. He initially took charge of the national team as manager in 1997, leading them to their first World Cup appearance at France ’98.

He went on to manage Consadole Sapporo and Yokohama F Marinos in the J-League, winning the league title in 2003 and 2004 with the latter.

He took charge of the national side for a second time in 2007 to lead them through World Cup qualifying and will hope to improve on his Group Stage exit in ’98.

Player watch
All but four of Japan’s 30-man provisional World Cup squad play in Japan’s J-League.

One of the players who recently made the move back to Japan is the country's biggest star, Shunsuke Nakamura. The former Celtic and Espanyol playmaker moved back to Yokohama Marinos in 2010 after establishing himself as one of the most successful Asian players in Europe. The talented left-footer and deadball specialist won league titles with Celtic and became only the second Asian player to score in the Champions League.

Defensive stalwart and captain Yuji Nakazawa, is also at Yokohama Marinos and with over 100 caps to his name will provide a steadying influence at the back.

Competition History
First appearance: 1998
No. of appearances (inc 2010): 4
Best result: Round of 16 (2002)
Matches against England: 2

Squad

Goalkeepers
1	Seigo Narazaki	Nagoya Grampus Eight, JPN
21	Eiji Kawashima	Kawasaki Frontale, JPN
23	Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi	Júbilo Iwata, JPN
Defenders
3	Yuichi Komano	Júbilo Iwata, JPN
4	Marcus Tulio Tanaka	Nagoya Grampus Eight, JPN
5	Yuto Nagatomo	FC Tokyo, JPN
6	Atsuto Uchida	Kashima Antlers, JPN
13	Daiki Iwamasa	Kashima Antlers, JPN
15	Yasuyuki Konno	FC Tokyo, JPN
22	Yuji Nakazawa	Yokohama F Marinos, JPN
Midfielders
2	Yuki Abe	Urawa Red Diamonds, JPN
7	Yasuhito Endo	Gamba Osaka, JPN
8	Daisuke Matsui	Grenoble, FRA
10	Shunsuke Nakamura	Yokohama F Marinos, JPN
15	Kengo Nakamura	Kawasaki Frontale, JPN
16	Yoshito Okubo	Vissel Kobe, JPN
17	Makoto Hasebe	VfL Wolfsburg, GER
18	Keisuke Honda	CSKA Moskva, RUS
20	Junichi Inamoto	Kawasaki Frontale, JPN
Forwards
9	Shinji Okazaki	Shimizu S-Pulse, JPN
11	Keiji Tamada	Nagoya Grampus Eight, JPN
12	Kisho Yano	Albirex Niigata, JPN
19	Takayuki Morimoto	Catania, ITA