Japan 2017 Training Shirt

JAPAN - TRAINING SHIRT 2017

The Japan Football Association was founded in 1921 and has been affiliated to FIFA since 1929. The national team, nicknamed Samurai Blue since 2009, wear an emblem adopted in 1931 depicting Yatagarasu, a three-legged crow from Japanese mythology said to have guided the country's first emperor, and now said to guide the ball towards goal. Home qualifiers are usually staged at Saitama Stadium 2002, a 63,700-seat arena that has hosted many of the team's biggest nights.

The 2017 season, during which this training shirt was worn, fell in the third year of Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic's reign and the business end of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The Japanese topped their group containing Saudi Arabia, Australia, UAE, Iraq, and Thailand, winning 6/10 games.

Takuma Asano and 21-year-old midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi scored the goals that beat Australia and booked Japan's World Cup ticket, while Yuya Osako continued to build a reputation as the side's most reliable forward. It proved to be the tactical high point of Halilhodzic's reign. Results dipped in early 2018 and he was sacked just two months before the memorable World Cup that he had spent three years qualifying Japan for, replaced by Akira Nishino.

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