Japan’s national soccer team has a high-profile opportunity to set expectations ahead of next year’s World Cup in North America with a friendly match on Tuesday night in Tokyo against Brazil — a team it has never beaten.
But it won’t be easy for Samurai Blue, which only squeaked out a 2-2 draw against Paraguay in Osaka on Saturday thanks to Ayase Ueda’s equalizer in the 94th minute. Japan had fallen behind in the first half before Koki Ogawa leveled the score at 1-1.
"We’ll be playing at home and aiming for a result," said Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu at a news conference ahead of the game. "While we, of course, recognize that Brazil is one of the world’s top teams, our own players are now competing on the European stage, and we want to go toe-to-toe.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.