But there was heartbreak in the next round as Croatia eliminated the Asian giants on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
“Moriyasu deserves criticism for this – that they had not planned for penalties. Once they got there, they were just lost,” said Mr Orlowitz. “I think that he’s not going to make that same mistake twice.”
Apart from the lessons from Qatar, Mr Shigetomi believes this team is stronger.
“I think this team has more depth and maturity than the squad from the last World Cup,” he said. “They also have a better balance between experience and youth.”
LOSS OF CAPTAIN “CONCERNING”
However, preparations for the World Cup have not been all smooth sailing for Japan.
According to Japanese media, the team had to change their training pitches twice in Mexico due to poor condition of the fields.
Prior to the team’s departure, it was announced that the mercurial Brighton midfielder Kaoru Mitoma would miss the World Cup due to injury, with Monaco attacker Takumi Minamino also ruled out.
“If one of them is missing, we wouldn’t stress it. Without them missing, I think we’re stressing it a little,” said Mr Orlowitz.
“I’m not going to say, ‘we’re fine without Mitoma’. This isn’t as good a team as it would be with Mitoma.”
Describing Mitoma as “one of the best players in Japan”, Nakamura admitted that his absence is a blow. However, he added that there are replacements waiting.
After all, this is a team which has firepower in the form of Real Sociedad’s star man, Takefusa Kubo, Celtic’s Daizen Maeda, and Eredivisie top scorer Ayase Ueda.
“It’s a team that doesn’t rely on a saviour – there’s no Messi, there’s no Ronaldo, there’s no Neymar. I think Japan kind of works best when they work as a team,” said Mr Orlowitz.
Mr Shigetomi added: “Japan’s strengths are its organisation, discipline, technical quality and team spirit. The players understand their roles and work hard for each other.”
