Should Japan qualify for its fifth consecutive Olympics as is widely expected, for once, the young Blue Samurai will be playing in the shadow of their female counterparts.
With Nadeshiko Japan riding into the Summer Games in London as world champions, they will be the ones expected to capture Japan's first Olympic medal in soccer since the men won a bronze at the 1968 Mexico City Games, not Takashi Sekizuka's side.
Sekizuka, however, is far from insulted by his relative anonymity or that of his team. Rather, the former Kawasaki Frontale manager lauds what Nadeshiko has done not only for Japanese soccer but also for an entire country trying to pick itself up from the tragedies of March 11.