Hajime Moriyasu will lead Japan at World Cup 2022 as manager, where they share Group E with Germany, Spain and Costa Rica.
The 54-year-old earned 35 caps for his country as a player, but never had the chance to compete at a World Cup. The bulk of his career was spent at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, where he made 271 appearances, and that was also where his managerial career began.
Hajime Moriyasu started off as a coach at the club, before managing Japan’s youth sides to the 2006 AFC Youth Championship and 2007 Under-20 World Cup.
He returned to Hiroshima in 2012 to take over as manager, and led them to back-to-back league titles before clinching a third title in four years in 2015.
In 2017, he took charge of Japan’s Under-23 side for the lead-up to their home Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. Hajime Moriyasu also worked as an assistant manager to boss Akira Nishino at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where Japan were knocked out by Belgium in the last 16.
After the tournament, Moriyasu was promoted to the top job and tasked with leading them at the 2019 Asian Cup, 2020 Olympics and to Qatar.
Japan progressed to the Asian Cup final in the UAE, but suffered a disappointing defeat to Qatar, while at the Olympics on home soil they were eliminated in extra-time by Spain in the semi-finals and lost the bronze medal match to Mexico.
The Blue Samurai qualified strongly for the 2022 World Cup, though, finishing second in their group behind Saudi Arabia to gain automatic qualification, seven points clear of Australia in third.
They did get off to a tricky start, losing two of their first four qualifiers in the final stage as pressure was heaped on Moriyasu, but since beating Australia in October 2021 they have lost just twice in 16 games.
The boss isn’t hiding his ambition, either, despite the tough competition they face in their group.
“Our aim is to get to the quarter-finals, but we’ll take each game as it comes, analysing our opponents and making use of our own strengths,” he said.
“I want us to have the best preparation and give it everything we’ve got.”
Hajime Moriyasu will have a tough selection to make for his Japan World Cup squad, which should include Arsenal's Takehiro Tomiyasu and former Southampton defender Maya Yoshida.
