National team manager Akira Nishino named his 23-man squad for next month's World Cup in Russia on Thursday and targeted at least a draw from each of Japan's first-round games against Colombia, Senegal and Poland.
"My biggest goal is for us to play in a way that befits the Japan national team," said Nishino, whose first game in charge after replacing fired predecessor Vahid Halilhodzic in April ended in a 2-0 defeat to Ghana in Yokohama on Wednesday night.
"If you want to put a figure on it, I want to pick up points in each game and make it past the first round. If we can do that, I think we can show to some extent what Japanese football is all about."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.