Multiple Asian football champions, the Japanese, at every world championship in which they take part, strive to be among the national teams playing in the playoffs. In 2014, at the World Cup in Brazil, the fans of the Japanese national team had the same expectations. However, this result has not been achieved.
Despite the fact that the Japanese were not in the most difficult group at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the Asian footballers performed frankly weak. The group stage rivals of the Japanese were Greeks, Colombians and Ivorians.
The Japanese played their opening match at the 2014 World Cup with the Ivory Coast national team. Asian footballers were the first to open an account, but they failed to keep the advantage. In addition, the Japanese did not manage to get even one point in the match - Cote d'Ivoire won a strong-willed victory with a score of 2 - 1.
In the second game at the World Cup, the Japanese showed an even more dull game. In the meeting with the Greek team, the spectators did not see a single goal scored. The natural outcome of the match is a goalless draw. This game became one of the most uninteresting in the tournament.
Before the last match of the group stage, the Japanese national team had only ghostly chances of qualifying from the group. The rivals of the Asian footballers were the Colombians, who showed an excellent game at the tournament. The natural outcome of the meeting was the crushing defeat of Japan with a score of 1 - 4.
The Japanese national team scored only one point in three matches at the World Cup. This determined the final last place in Group C. Such a result for the Japanese was very sad because the team from Asia set itself the minimum goals of reaching the playoff stage of the World Cup.
