The coach of Japan's national soccer team has praised what his squad accomplished in their World Cup campaign, which came to an end with a penalty shootout loss to Croatia.

Moriyasu Hajime said his men opened a new chapter for Japanese soccer, though the team failed to advance beyond the round of 16.

Moriyasu said he is sure a new future is awaiting Japan. He added that the Samurai Blue need to keep working hard to overtake rivals based on the confidence his team built by beating former World Cup champions Germany and Spain.

Captain Yoshida Maya says he is not satisfied with the result, given the amount of energy he put into training in the past four years.