Japan captain Wataru Endo has withdrawn from the national team's World Cup squad due to injury and announced his retirement from international soccer, dealing a major blow ahead of Japan's Group F opener against the Netherlands on June 14th (June 15th Japan time), as the team continued preparations near Nashville, Tennessee, on June 11th.
Elementary school students in Yokote, Akita Prefecture, played a spirited game of dodgeball in a rice field on June 12th as part of an annual event that also serves to prepare the paddy for planting.
Japan's World Cup campaign begins on June 14 when the Samurai Blue face the Netherlands at Dallas Stadium in Texas, a clash that will showcase some of the game's most talented players and pit two ambitious teams against one another in a crucial Group F opener. While Japan arrives without injured winger Kaoru Mitoma, one of its most recognizable stars, the squad still boasts a wealth of talent drawn from Europe's top leagues.
A fortune-telling parrot at Nasu Animal Kingdom in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, predicted on June 11 that Japan's national soccer team will win all three of its group-stage matches at the FIFA World Cup.
Japan's top-tier women's softball competition, the JD League, was held in Okinawa for the first time, giving local fans a chance to watch national team players and athletes from the prefecture compete at the highest domestic level.
In this 1xBet review, we’ll take a look at the key aspects of the main match of Matchday 1 in Group F of the World Football Forum 2026.