Japan get their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign underway on Thursday as they play host to Myanmar.

The visitors to the Panasonic Stadium Suita have already come through one round to reach this stage of qualifying.

Match preview

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Almost a year has now passed since Japan made a huge impression at the 2022 World Cup, coming through a group that included each of Spain and Germany.

A penalty-shootout exit to Croatia in the last 16 hurt Samurai Blue, with the feeling being that there was an opportunity to go deep in the competition.

Since then, though, they have been able to build on that progression, winning six of eight friendlies with the victories in question coming in succession since June.

Another triumph over Germany, this time on away territory, is included during that period, but scoring four goals against Peru, Turkey and Canada were impressive feats in themselves.

Hajime Moriyasu will be happy to get to competitive matters over the coming months, with their opening World Cup qualifiers coming either side of January's Asian Cup.

From the perspective of Myanmar, they have already achieved their minimum goal of making it through to the group phase with success over Macau.

Michael Feichtenbeiner watched his side cruise to a 5-1 victory in the first leg before they played out a goalless draw in the away reverse fixture.

That has extended their unbeaten streak to five games in all competitions, yet it should be noted that their only opponents during that time have been Macau and Nepal.

Before that, when playing stronger teams, Chinthe went 16 matches without a win across an 18-month period, highlighting the size of the task that awaits them on Thursday.

Team News

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With three of the last Japan starting lineup not featuring in this squad, Moriyasu will have to significantly tinker with his starting lineup.

The experienced Shogo Taniguchi may come into the centre of defence, while Takumi Minamino could be drafted into the side on the left flank.

Takuma Asano will likely get the nod in attack, with the rest of the team from the win over Tunisia potentially staying the same.

Meanwhile, Feichtenbeiner could select the same Myanmar XI that started the 5-1 victory over Macau on October 12.

Aung Kaung Mann did come off the substitutes' bench to score in that game, while central-forward Than Paing did not, but the latter should retain his spot down the middle of the frontline.

Japan possible starting lineup:
Suzuki; Sugawara, Tomiyasu, Taniguchi, Nakayama; Endo, Morita; Ito, Kubo, Minamino; Asano

Myanmar possible starting lineup:
Naing; Win, Lin, Kyaw, Soe; Naing, Oo, Aung; Thu, Paing, Lwin

We say: Japan 4-0 Myanmar

While Japan will take no team lightly as they bid to earn a place in the 2026 Finals, this is a light opening for the Asian giants. We can only expect a routine 90 minutes with plenty of players getting game time to take control of the group.

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