page_title: Maya Yoshida
section_title: Senior career
hierarchical_section_title: Maya Yoshida / International career / Senior career
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Потрясающий камбэк сборной Бельгии в матче с Японией
context_page_description: Maya Yoshida is a Japanese footballer who last played as a centre back for Premier League club Southampton, and captains the Japan national team.
context_section_description: In December 2009, Yoshida was called up to the senior national team for the first time. He made his full international debut for Japan on 6 January 2010 in a 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Yemen. Yoshida later reflected on his debut, saying: "Of course Yemen war of 2010 (3-2) because it was all the way to the target, I was happy." After fracturing his fingers, Yoshida stated that he was determined to recovery from his injury and hope to get called up for the 2010 World Cup squad. However, Yoshida did not make the cut.
  In December 2010, Yoshida was called up for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. Under the management of Alberto Zaccheroni, it’s emerged that Yoshida is expecting to start in the centre–back position ahead of the tournament. He scored his first Japan goal, in a 1–1 draw against Jordan on 9 January 2011. Yoshida started two more matches in the group-stage, as Japan progressed through the knockout stage. However, Yoshida was sent–off for a second bookable offence, in a 3–2 win against Qatar in the quarter–finals of the AFC Asian Cup. After serving a one match suspension, Yoshida returned to the starting line-ups in the AFC Asian Cup Final against Australia and played 120 minutes, as they beat the Socceroos 1–0 to win the AFC Asian Cup, thanks to Tadanari Lee. Between 7 June 2011 and 2 September 2011, Yoshida kept three consecutive three cleans; including once against North Korea, which he scored the only goal of the game. Yoshida kept an additional three more clean sheets between 7 October 2011 and 11 November 2011.
  Following the Olympics, Yoshida continued to help Japan by keeping three consecutive clean sheets between 6 September 2012 and 12 October 2012 against UAE, Iraq and France. He later helped Japan qualify for the World Cup after drawing 1–1 against Australia on 4 June 2013. Two days later, Yoshida was called up to the national side for the 2013 Confederations Cup squad. He was featured three times in the tournament, as Japan loss all three matches and was eliminated in the Group Stage.
  In May 2014, Yoshida was named in Japan's preliminary squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In the end, he made it to the final cut for the 23 man squad. Yoshida started all three matches despite facing competitions from the centre–back and subsequently, Japan was eliminated from the tournament in the group stage, without winning any matches. Despite this, He kept a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw against Greece on 20 June 2014. Later in 2014, Yoshida scored his first Japan’s goal in three years, as they beat Honduras 6–0 on 14 November 2014.
  In December 2014, Yoshida was selected as a member of the Japanese team for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia. He played Japan's opener match against debutant Palestine and scored the final goal in a 4–0 win. Yoshida helped Japan kept two more clean sheets to advance through to the quarter–finals. However, he conceded a goal from Ali Mabkhout before Japan equalised and the match was played throughout 120 minutes; ultimately, they were eliminated after losing in penalty–shootout. After the match, Yoshida acknowledged his fault for conceding a goal from the opposition team.
  Throughout Japan’s matches in the World Cup Qualifying Round, Yoshida then scored again in a 3–0 win against Cambodia on 3 September 2015. He later helped Japan keep two more clean sheets against Afghanistan and Syria. Yoshida kept four more clean sheets in the World Cup Qualifying Round between 12 November 2015 and 29 March 2016. During the run, he scored two goals against Singapore and Afghanistan. Three months later on 3 June 2016, Yoshida scored a brace, scoring in the fourth and five goal, in a 7–2 win against Bulgaria. The following March, he captained Japan for the first time in his career and helped the national side beat United Arabs Emirates 2–0. After the match, Yoshida said: "I have played several times in my team, but it is a big thing to be the captain of the national team. I felt it." In a follow–up match against Thailand, he scored again, in a 4–0 win. Three months later, on 31 August 2017, Yosh
caption: Yoshida playing for Japan during a match against Belgium in the round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1800", "Image ImageLength": "1200", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2018:07:03 20:16:07", "Image ExifOffset": "236", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "386", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7854", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1096", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1184"}