whole game, as Japan U23 lost 1–0 against United States. Uchida went on to make two appearances for the side in the tournament, as Japan were eliminated in the Group Stage. Senior team On two occasions between December 2007 and January 2008, Uchida received an international call-up from national coach Ivica Osim but did not play any game. Uchida finally made a full international debut for Japan on 26 January 2008 in a friendly against Chile at National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. This was the first match under the reign of new manager Takeshi Okada. The results was a 0–0 draw. In a follow–up match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, he helped Japan keep another clean sheet, in a 3–0 win. On 6 February 2008, Uchida played 90 minutes for Japan in a 4–1 win against Thailand and became the first teenage Japanese footballer to play FIFA World Cup qualification after the establishment of the J. League in 1993. On 22 June 2008, Uchida scored the winner in a 1–0 win against Bahrain. It was his first international goal and Uchida became the youngest Japanese goalscorer in FIFA World Cup qualification at age 20 years and 87 days, beating an 11-year-old record that was held by Hidetoshi Nakata. Throughout 2008, he dispatched the right–back position from Yūichi Komano and Yūichi Komano. Uchida started 2009 when he set up two goals, in a 5–1 win against Finland on 5 February 2009. In June 2009, he was featured in two of the three World Cup qualifying matches, which resulted in Japan qualified for the tournament. Later in the year, Uchida helped Japan keep four clean sheets in a row between 10 October 2009 and 18 November 2009, all of them were friendly matches. In February 2010, Uchida was called up to the national squad for the East Asian Football Championship. He helped the side keep two clean sheets in the first two matches. However, Japan's loss to South Korea in Matchday 3 meant that Japan finished third place in the tournament. Uchida was a member of the Japan team for the 2010 World Cup squad, being called up in May 2010. However, Uchida appeared as a substitute for all the World Cup matches, as he failed to dispatch a right–back place from Yūichi Komano. After the tournament, Uchida said he was disappointed in himself for not playing in the World Cup and hope