“This isn’t just a friendly. It’s our chance to write history.”
These were the words spoken by Japan captain Takumi Minamino to his team-mates – words that turned out to be prophetic. On Tuesday, the Samurai Blue added a new chapter to football folklore as they came back from two goals down to claim a 3-2 comeback victory against Brazil.
It was their first win in 14 encounters with the five-time world champions, and represented a truly historic achievement for an Asian side.
The teams went in for the break with Brazil holding a two-goal lead. Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu stood before his players and announced: “This game isn’t over.” The players took his words to heart, and began discussing how to turn the match around. They would push the defensive line up. They would press from the front. They would seize the initiative. They would turn the game on its head in the second half.
Junnosuke Suzuki, who was a rock at the back for Japan, recalls: “We backed off them too much in the first half and gave them too much space. We knew that a single goal would change the game, so we remained persistent and played on the front foot in the second half.”
Sure enough, Japan found the right balance between attack and defence, and Minamino pounced on a slip-up at the back to score their first goal and begin the turnaround. Ten minutes later, Keito Nakamura drifted in at the back post to convert a cross from substitute Junya Ito, bringing the scores level and sending the stadium into raptures.
Looking back on the match, Nakamura said: “It was a very special day to score a goal! We beat some really strong opponents at the World Cup, and it was incredible to have that feeling again.” The first victory against an opponent is always far harder than the second. In that sense, this was not just a game and a win for Japan, but perhaps a significant turning point.
It was a match that hearkened back to their experiences at the FIFA World Cup 2022™ in Qatar, when they overcame both Germany and Spain, but marked a step further in the team’s progress. They went from around 30 per cent possession in the first half to over 50 per cent in the second, proactively taking the game to their opponents rather than hoping to steal a win on the break.
The result is all the more impressive taking into account that, prior to this game, Brazil had conceded only once in their five matches under new coach Carlo Ancelotti. These big wins are no longer flukes.
“The more you win, the more other teams are going to look to figure you out,” said Hajime Moriyasu. He believes that other coaches will be closely analysing “the team that beat Germany, Spain and Brazil.” Meanwhile, the players are looking ahead. Daichi Kamada said, “we need to make these kind of games a normal occurrence,” while Ayase Ueda added, “the next challenge is always in front of us.”
The three goals scored against Brazil is more than just a number. It is a demonstration that Japan’s skills and structure are among the best in the world, and proof that they have no need to fear any opponent.
The match certainly lived up to Minamino’s billing as “a chance to write history”, but it is nothing more than the first chapter. How far can Moriyasu’s men go, and what does the future hold for them? We can expect the answers to these questions and more at the FIFA World Cup 26™ in North America.
