The soccer World Cup Qatar tournament will start on the 20th local time and early morning on the 21st Japan time.
While there are some players who are worried about the impact of injuries, Japan will aim for the best 8 for the first time in history.
The first football World Cup to be held in the Middle East, Qatar will be held in November for the first time since the tournament began in 1930, taking into account the intense heat.
The opening match will begin at 7:00 pm local time on the 20th and 1:00 am Japan time on the 21st, with the hosts Qatar and Ecuador playing against each other.
32 teams will participate in the tournament, divided into 8 groups to compete in the first league, and the top 2 teams in each group will advance to the final tournament.
Japan, which is aiming for the best 8 for the first time in history, is in Group E and will face Germany in the first match of the first league on the 23rd, Costa Rica on the 27th, and Spain on December 1st.
Volunteer Wataru Endo, defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, and attacking trump Kaoru Mitoma, who were worried about the effects of injuries and poor health, participated in the general practice from the 19th, but volunteer Hidemasa Morita Due to discomfort in my left calf, I am continuing to make adjustments in another menu.
In an interview on the 18th, Manager Moriyasu said, "I want to see their condition before the game against Germany. I was able to play for my club until just before the World Cup, so I don't think there will be any problems as long as they recover." did.
After that, he emphasized that the team will fight with all-out efforts, saying, "Unexpected things always happen. I think it's important to show how much we can do our best, so we'll focus on that."
It will be interesting to see whether Japan will be able to advance to the quarter-finals by making the most of the tactics they have built up over the past four years under Coach Moriyasu and the depth of their squad.
First held in the Middle East Considering the heat, it will start in November
The Qatar Games will be held in the Middle East for the first time in the history of the 22nd World Cup.
The tournament was held for 29 days from November 20th to December 18th, local time, and matches were held at a total of eight venues in five cities, including the capital city of Doha. 32 teams will compete for the title of "World's Best Football".
Until now, the World Cup has been held from May to July, when the major European leagues have finished, but FIFA = the International Football Federation, considering the severe heat of Qatar at this time, the tournament started in 1930. For the first time since then, we decided to hold the event from November to December when the temperature is relatively low.
Since the tournament will be held during the season of the major European leagues, each team will not be able to hold pre-tournament training camps, which they used to do for about two weeks before the tournament.
In order to respond flexibly to such schedule changes and unforeseen circumstances such as infection with the new coronavirus, the number of players that each team can register for this tournament has increased from 23 to 26. rice field.
The number of substitutes per game will also increase from the previous maximum of 3 to 5.
In addition to 15 reserve players, 11 team staff will be on the bench for the match.
In addition, the maximum number of pre-registrations, which was 35 until the last tournament, will be increased to 55.
Immigration restrictions affect tourists
Ahead of the opening of the World Cup, the Qatar government has imposed immigration restrictions from this month until the end of the tournament.
During this period, only Qatari nationals, foreigners living in Qatar, and foreigners with tickets to watch a World Cup match are allowed to enter the country, and entry for business or tourism purposes is not permitted. Hmm.
In order for spectators to visit from overseas, it is necessary to book a match ticket and accommodation, so it is rare to see foreign spectators in Doha before the opening.
Furthermore, Qatar has been constructing apartments and trailer houses for use as temporary hotels, but there are concerns that there will be a shortage of accommodation facilities.
Ahead of the opening, anticipation and enthusiasm are rising, mainly among locals and foreigners living in Qatar, but the handling of spectators for the first World Cup in the Middle East is very different from previous tournaments.
$440 million total prize pool
At the World Cup Qatar tournament, prize money was given to each team according to the results, totaling 440 million dollars, or 61.6 billion yen in Japanese yen.
The breakdown is 42 million dollars (5.88 billion yen in Japanese yen) for the winning team, 30 million dollars (4.2 billion yen in Japanese yen) for the runner-up team, and 27 million dollars (3.7 billion yen in Japanese yen) for the third place. 80 million yen), and 4th place can win 25 million dollars (3.5 billion yen in Japanese yen).
In addition, the four teams that lost in the quarterfinals will receive $17 million each (2.38 billion yen in Japanese yen), and the eight teams that will lose in the first round of the finals tournament will receive $13 million (1.82 billion yen in Japanese yen). , 9 million dollars (1.26 billion yen in Japanese yen) will be given to the 16 teams that have lost the first league.
In addition, each team will be given 1.5 million dollars (210 million yen in Japanese yen) for preparation expenses before the tournament.