Takefusa Kubo says the World Cup feels different this time. The 25-year-old Real Sociedad winger said he no longer feels like a first-timer as Japan prepares for its second straight tournament appearance for him and its opening Group F match against the Netherlands at Dallas Stadium on the 15th.
Japan trained for the first 15 minutes in front of the media at Nashville Base Camp in Tennessee on June 13, Korea Standard Time, then continued behind closed doors before moving on to Dallas. The timing matters because this is Japan’s first match of the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup, and Kubo is being asked to carry more of the load with Kaoru Mitoma out injured.
Kubo was 21 at the 2022 Qatar World Cup and said he felt he was the youngest member of the Japanese national team then. Four years later, he says the difference is not just age but instinct. “I had a feeling that it was my first time at the last World Cup,” he said. “Now I’ve become a player who can think it’s natural to play in the World Cup.”
That change is part of why Japan is looking at him differently now. He is described as the team’s ace, and with Mitoma unavailable, his shoulders have grown heavier. Japan has reached the finals seven consecutive times since its first World Cup in 1998, and it has made the group stage in 2010, 2018 and 2022. The North American World Cup is its eighth attempt, and the team’s standard is no longer simply to show up.
Still, Kubo did not sound relaxed in the casual sense. He said three points in the first game and three points in the third game may look the same on paper, but psychologically they are completely different. The first one matters most because it can change how the rest of the tournament feels. That is why he keeps returning to the same idea: Japan cannot let the event carry it away.
“The World Cup is special. There is an atmosphere that only the World Cup has. It felt like a really big festival,” Kubo said. “Because it was my first World Cup, I was a little overwhelmed by the atmosphere.” He added that the United States is the best in the world for entertainment, that neutral fans will be in the stadium, and that attractive soccer could bring them onto Japan’s side.
For Japan, the path now is plain. The next meaningful test is not the scale of the tournament or the noise around it, but whether Kubo and Japan can turn that calm confidence into three points against the Netherlands in Dallas. If they do, the conversation around this team changes immediately.
