The Blue Samurai look in brilliant form in Group F, with Tunisia chasing shadows for most of the first-half, which ended 2-0.
Daichi Kamada took just four minutes to open the scoring, bundling home Keito Nakamura’s wicked delivery from the right.
Just after the drinks break, Ayase Ueda took the Monterrey crowd’s breath away with a sublime strike, fizzed home from the right from an acute angle. He had picked the ball up between the lines on the right and just when it looked like his teammates’ runs off the ball had broken the move down, space opened and the 27-year-old seized the moment with a fine finish, celebrating by pointing to his jersey.
“What a superb strike,” beamed Jon Obi Mikel on Fox Soccer.
His is a name to remember, particularly for Premier League fans.
He finished eight goals clear of the Eredivisie Golden Boot race with 25 for Feyenoord, where Jordy Bos is his teammate. He is only the second Japan player to ever win a European Golden Boot, following Kyōgo Furuhashi in Scotland with Celtic in 2023.
After three seasons in Rotterdam, where he was signed by Arne Slot, his exploits have PL clubs circling, with Tottenham, Brighton, Leeds and Everton all linked with the striker, who is tipped to be worth in the vicinity of $AUD 56 million.
Signed from Club Brugge for $AUD 10 million three seasons ago, Ueda came through his boyhood club Kashima Antlers before making the move to Europe.
🇯🇵 Ayase Ueda this season in the league:⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️得点王 pic.twitter.com/gbeKYHqvnd
— Feyenoord Rotterdam (@Feyenoord) May 20, 2026
A six foot striker adept with both feet, he was a key cog in qualifying and is looking for this moment on the world stage after only being a squad member in 2022, hoping to become the missing piece for Japan on the World Cup stage.