World Cup will be the 'biggest moment' for Huddersfield Town's Japanese international defender Yuta Nakayama

Nakayama is a regular among the Japan squad, who are pitted in a tough Group B which sees them face Spain and Germany in Group E along with Costa Rica.

In their World Cup history, Japan have qualified for the knock-out phases on three occasions, but have never passed the round of 16 stage.

This forthcoming tournament is Japan's seventh World Cup appearance.

Nakayama, speaking ahead of Saturday lunch-time’s Yorkshire derby against Rotherham United, said: "The World Cup is the biggest moment for me now, but I need to play constantly here and I will just try and help the team. It will hopefully help with the World Cup (aspirations).

"It must be difficult to qualify for this tournament (side). But I am sure that the Japanese national team, after qualifying for the tournament, will try to make it (do well) and I will try to make it by keep playing here.

"If I play constantly here, a lot of things will come to me to improve myself, I am sure I will join in the squad."

Nakayama admits that moving to the Championship to boost his international prospects was in his mindset when he elected to sign for Huddersfield.The 25-year-old, who started in Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Yorkshire rivals Hull City, added: "For Japanese players, we want to play at a higher level. The Championship is obviously at a higher level than the Japanese league, so this is one of the reasons I came here. I want to play at a higher level and be stronger.

"There's a lot of interest in the Championship. In the past, there was not a lot of Japanese players, but I have to show Japanese quality for the future and some (more) players might come here as well and I have some responsibility, for sure."