Japan national football team in 2008

This page records the details of the matches played by the Japan national football team during 2008. In 2008 the Japan national football team competed in the third and fourth round of the AFC 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifications, the 2008 East Asian Cup, and the 2008 Kirin Cup, amongst other friendly matches.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result	Score	Venue	Competition	Japan Goal Scorers	Match Report
January 26	Chile	D	0-0	National Stadium, Tokyo	Friendly (Kirin Challenge Cup)		[1]
January 30	Bosnia and Herzegovina	W	3-0	National Stadium, Tokyo	Friendly (Kirin Challenge Cup)	Nakazawa 68' Yamase 83' 88'	[2]
February 6	Thailand	W	4-1	Saitama Stadium, Saitama	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Third Round	Endo 21' Okubo 54' Nakazawa 66' Maki 91'	[3]
February 17	North Korea	D	1-1	Olympic Sports Center, Chongqing, China	East Asian Cup	Maeda 69'	[4]
February 20	China PR	W	1-0	Olympic Sports Center, Chongqing, China	East Asian Cup	Yamase 17'	[5]
February 23	South Korea	D	1-1	Olympic Sports Center, Chongqing, China	East Asian Cup	Yamase 68'	[6]
March 26	Bahrain	L	0-1	National Stadium, Madinat 'Isa, Bahrain	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Third Round		[7]
May 24	Ivory Coast	W	1-0	Toyota Stadium, Toyota	Kirin Cup	Tamada 21'	[8]
May 27	Paraguay	D	0-0	Saitama Stadium, Saitama	Kirin Cup		[9]
June 2	Oman	W	3-0	International Stadium, Yokohama	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Third Round	Nakazawa 10' Okubo 22' S.Nakamura 49'	[10]
June 7	Oman	D	1-1	Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat, Oman	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Third Round	Endo 53'	[11]
June 14	Thailand	W	3-0	Rajamangala National Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Third Round	Tulio 23' Nakazawa 39' K.Nakamura 88'	[12]
June 22	Bahrain	W	1-0	Saitama Stadium, Saitama	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Third Round	Uchida 89'	[13]
August 20	Uruguay	L	1-3	Sapporo Dome, Sapporo	Friendly (Kirin Challenge Cup)	Own goal 48'	[14]
September 6	Bahrain	W	3-2	National Stadium, Madinat 'Isa, Bahrain	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Fourth Round	S.Nakamura 18' Endo 44' K.Nakamura 85'	[15]
October 9	United Arab Emirates	D	1-1	Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium, Niigata	Friendly (Kirin Challenge Cup)	Kagawa 72'	[16]
October 15	Uzbekistan	D	1-1	Saitama Stadium, Saitama	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Fourth Round	Tamada 40'	[17]
November 13	Syria	W	3-1	Home's Stadium Kobe, Kobe	Friendly (Kirin Challenge Cup)	Nagatomo 3' Tamada 26' Okubo 62'	[18]
November 19	Qatar	W	3-0	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification (AFC) - Fourth Round	T.Tanaka 19' Tamada 47' Tulio 68'	[19]

Top goal scorers for 2008

Rank	Name	Position	Goals	Matches
1	Koji Yamase	MF	4	9
	Keiji Tamada	FW		12
	Yuji Nakazawa	DF		16
4	Yoshito Okubo	FW	3	12
	Yasuhito Endo	MF		16
6	Shunsuke Nakamura	MF	2	9
	Kengo Nakamura	MF		10
	Marcus Tulio Tanaka	DF		10
9	7 players		1

Kits

Japan 1st Kit

Japan 2nd Kit

Manager

• Manager was Takeshi Okada for one year.