JAPAN : WORLD CUP HISTORY

Japan made its World Cup debut at France '98 and wound up with the results you would expect from a team playing in the soccer world's grandest event for the first time. The Japanese lost all three of their first-round matches, 1-0 to Argentina, 1-0 to Croatia and 2-1 to Jamaica. As co-hosts in 2002, Japan did much better, reaching the second round before it was eliminated by Turkey in a rather lackluster 1-0 loss. The Japanese went unbeaten at 2-0-1 in the opening round, blanking Tunisia, 2-0, and Russia, 1-0 before playing Belgium to a 2-2 draw.