Japan have sealed qualification -- the first team to do so all across the globe apart from co-hosts United States, Mexico and Canada. On Thursday, with a 2-0 win over Bahrain, the Samurai Blue are ...

“For us,” Friedman said, “a major win would have been to get two.” But in their pursuit of painting Japan blue, they held out hope of landing all three. The response to Shohei Ohtani at ...

Second-half goals from Daichi Kamada and Takefusa Kubo were enough for the Samurai Blue to earn its spot at next year’s tournament which is being hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico. Japan ...

Japan became the first team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup on Thursday as South Korea was held but still inched closer along with a rampant Australia and a dominant Iran. Daichi Kamada and ...

The victory had secured Japan’s berth at the 2026 World Cup with three qualifiers to spare, and the postgame festivities had left the Samurai Blue coach sounding far throatier than usual.