Cliff Notes – Yukinari Sugawara hopes high of World Cup qualification can help Southampton beat the drop
- Yukinari Sugawara played a key role in Japan’s qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, marking the team’s dominance in the Asian qualifiers with 12 wins out of 14 matches.
- Despite his international success, Sugawara faces challenges at club level with Southampton, who are struggling in the Premier League with only nine points from 29 matches.
- Sugawara remains focused on improving his performance and aims to bring positive experiences from the national team to his club, while acknowledging the difficulty of enjoying football amidst Southampton’s struggles.
Yukinari Sugawara hopes high of World Cup qualification can help Southampton beat the drop
SAITAMA, Japan — In what has been a trying season so far, Yukinari Sugawara finally had something to smile about this past week.
Last Thursday, Sugawara was part of the Japan side that became to first team to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup — co-hosts United States, Mexico and Canada notwithstanding.
The fact that the Samurai Blue achieved the feat with three games to spare in the third round of Asian qualifiers illustrated how dominant they have been. Even more so when considering they have won 12 of their 14 outings in the entire campaign thus far — scoring a staggering 48 goals in the process while conceding just twice.
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Sugiwara’s success on the international stage is a far cry from how things have been going at club level with Southampton in the Premier League.
Having joined the newly-promoted club last summer from Eredivisie outfit AZ Alkmaar, the 24-year-old has been part of a side that currently only have nine points to their names from 29 matches and seem destined for an immediate return to the Championship.
Sugawara has been a regular feature for the Saints in his maiden campaign in English football with 26 league appearances to date, but the amount of playing time he is getting in one of the world’s best leagues is small consolation to the plight his club find themselves in.
“It’s been such a tough season because we [Southampton] have only got nine points until now,” Sugawara told ESPN earlier this week during the international window.
“Individually, and as a team, performances haven’t been so good. I’m really thinking about my performances [and] my season.
“But with the [Japan] national team, we’ve done well and I’ve got some positive things. I’ll try to bring those things to the club but it isn’t so easy.
“Every day is just about trying to get better and better. Personally, I have to be a better player.”
Having fallen in love with the sport from young, Sugawara always knew he wanted to pursue a professional career and he would be the first to admit he is currently living a dream.
Nonetheless, the ongoing tough times with Southampton has left the usually-jovial defender admitting that it has not been easy playing with a smile on his face.
“There are really only important games now,” he explained. “There are no friendly games but with the national team or the club.
“I just focus on each and every game and then I will think about how the performance was — good or bad.
“Also, I now need to enjoy football. It’s not so easy to enjoy football at this moment. Since I was a child, I really enjoyed football until now.
“Maybe I shouldn’t say I want to enjoy football in this moment but, as a football player, we need to enjoy football firstly — and then we’ll see the results.”
One silver lining for Sugawara to look forward to is Japan’s upcoming World Cup campaign.
Despite his relative youth, the full-back is now firmly entrenched in Samurai Blue coach Hajime Moriyasu’s squad but has had to bide his time for starting opportunities.
With Moriyasu recently opting for an adventurous approach, it means that the right wing-back berth — which Sugawara would originally have been a perfect fit for — is currently nailed down by the more-offensive Ritsu Dōan.
Regardless, should Sugawara continue to be playing at the highest level, he should be nailed on for a maiden World Cup campaign although he is not entertaining any premature thoughts at the moment.
“Of course, the first thing is that we wanted to get the ticket to the World Cup and we did really well,” he added.
“But our future is to win the World Cup. That’s the main thing for us, so we’re never satisfied with our results until now and are just focused on the next one.
“The team didn’t expect to win almost every game in the Asian qualifiers. We did so well.
“But now that we [Japan] have got the ticket to the World Cup, we [the players] will start the ‘survival’ to go to the World Cup. No one is secured of their [place].
“We’ll fight starting now so I just want to enjoy for the future.”
