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| Japan's coach Hajime Moriyasu(right) and Maya Yoshida attends a press conference in Narita, Chiba prefecture in Narita on December 7, 2022. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI/AP |
Japan will put their World Cup heartbreak behind them and focus on becoming Asian champions for a fifth time, captain Maya Yoshida said after the team returned home on Wednesday.
The Blue Samurai were eliminated from the
World Cup on penalties by Croatia in the last 16 on Monday, denying them a
first-ever place in the quarter-finals.
But the defeat did not stop hundreds of
fans from traveling to an airport near Tokyo to welcome the players and coach
Hajjime Moriyasu back from Qatar.
“We won’t stop here,” Yoshida said at a
news conference after arriving.
“We will aim to become the best in Asia,”
he added.
“Our fight will continue. As long as we
keep playing football, we must keep fighting.”
The Asian Cup will also be held in Qatar
after original host China dropped out due to its strict anti-Covid policies.
The tournament was set to be held in June
and July 2023 but is now likely to be postponed until early 2024 to avoid
Qatar’s fierce summer heat.
Japan won the most recent of their four
Asian Cup titles the last time Qatar hosted the tournament, in 2011.
The Blue Samurai could not find a way past
Croatia in the last 16 of the World Cup, but they stunned former champions
Germany and Spain to top their first-round group.
“We couldn’t reach new heights but my
players showed us a new era, and this is just the beginning,” said Moriyasu.
Among the crowd of fans waiting to welcome
the team home at the airport was 55-year-old Takamichi Masui.
He said the wins over Germany and Spain
were proof that “Japan has become a soccer powerhouse.”
Another fan, 37-year-old Takahiro Ichikawa,
said that like captain Yoshida, he is only looking ahead.
“For now, I hope the national team will
focus on pulling off a solid performance in the Asian Cup in Qatar,” he said.