After the solid performance put in by a host of relatively new NT players last week, against Oman, Halilhodzic took a bit of a gamble and benched his star attacking unit of Honda, Okasaki and Kagawa, replacing them with three players who have only two dozen NT caps between them. The result proved that a new era is dawning for the Samurai Blue.
Read more: Japan-Saudi 161115
In the wake of Japan's 1-1 draw with Australia, it is hard to dispute coach Halilhodzic's verdict, that this result was "two points lost, rather than one point gained".
Read more: Japan-Oz 161012
Japan kicked off its campaign for the 2018 World Cup this week with matches against the UAE and Thailand. The UAE contest included every single problem that anyone has ever criticised or bemoaned about Asian football. And I do mean everything
Read more: Japan vs UAE 160901
Japan's campaign for the 2018 World Cup sputtered along in unconvincing fashion Tuesday evening, with a 1-1 draw against Australia
Read more: Japan - Australia 161011
Japan's campaign for a berth in the 2018 World Cup received an enormous boost on Thursday evening, as birthday boy Hotaru Yamaguchi's injury-time blast carried Japan past the Lions of Mesopotamia, and put their qualification campaign back on track.
Read more: Japan - Iraq 161005