{"id":617153,"date":"2026-06-02T14:48:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/617153\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:48:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:48:24","slug":"world-cup-2026-japan-benefit-from-new-substitution-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/617153\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Japan benefit from new substitution rule"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Japan became one of the first beneficiaries of the new time-limited substitution rule on Sunday when they scored while opponents Iceland had just 10 players on the pitch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Under<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/articles\/c9v39x2v8yxo\" class=\"ssrcss-1fqyhkk-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> several new rules<\/a> introduced by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) in time for the World Cup, players have 10 seconds to leave the field at the nearest point when being substituted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">If they fail to do so, the substitute cannot enter the field for at least one minute until the next stoppage in play, meaning their team must continue with 10 players.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">During a friendly between Japan and Iceland on Sunday, Iceland fell foul of the new rule and winger Isak Thorvaldsson was unable to come on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">While Iceland were down a player, Koki Ogawa scored an 87th-minute header to earn Japan a 1-0 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Japan&#8217;s goal came one minute and 54 seconds after Thorvaldsson was prevented from entering the pitch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Speaking after the match, Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu warned his players about making the same mistake as Iceland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I thought the players handled the new rule adjustments today with almost no issues,&#8221; Moriyasu said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Under the new rules, players won&#8217;t necessarily be able to get back on the pitch as quickly as before. That&#8217;s something we need to be mindful of. Whether it&#8217;s during substitutions or in other moments, we need to avoid creating openings that give the opponent a chance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Moriyasu also spoke about the importance of delivering clear and concise tactical instructions during three-minute hydration breaks, another new introduction. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;In those three minutes, we have to organise the key points we need to get across and communicate them clearly to the players,&#8221; the 57-year-old said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I felt that how well we use those three minutes could have a major impact on the outcome of matches, so we want to prepare thoroughly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Japan begin their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on Sunday, 14 June (21:00 BST), before facing Tunisia and Sweden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan became one of the first beneficiaries of the new time-limited substitution rule on Sunday when they scored&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-617153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}