In May 2014, Sakai was named in Japan's preliminary squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In the end, he made it to the final cut for the 23 man squad. However, Sakai made no appearances in the World Cup, as he spent the rest of the campaign on the substitute bench. After the tournament ended, Sakai made his first appearance for the side in three months on 5 September 2014, in a 2–0 loss against Uruguay. However, he was absent from the AFC Asian Cup tournament under a new management of Javier Aguirre.