Brazil and Japan will face each other in the final phase of a World Cup, and you won’t be called crazy if you throw your chips in with the Asian team. Yes, the favorite at the bookmakers is the yellow-green team, five-time champions, but the possibility of a different result is far from being seen as an aberration, something absolutely unpredictable.
In 1996, it was like this, a zebra treated as hideous on Brazilian lands, miraculous on Japanese islands. In the first round of the Atlanta Olympic Games, in a game held in Miami and decided by a collision between goalkeeper Dida and defender Aldair, midfielder Teruyoshi Ito hit the unprotected net to make it 1-0.
Although without major practical consequences in the tournament – Japan fell in the initial phase, Brazil took the bronze medal –, the match became a milestone for developing football. For the Japanese, it was “Miami no Kiseki”, the “miracle of Miami”, obtained against the four-time champions Aldair and Bebeto and the future five-time champions Roberto Carlos, Juninho Paulista, Rivaldo and Ronaldo.
Thirty years later, the teams will meet again in the United States, this time in Houston and without age restrictions – at the Olympics, only three athletes over 23 years old are allowed on each side. Next Monday (29), at NGR Stadium, the hypothesis of a Japanese triumph does not necessarily seem linked to an exceptional divine intervention.
“It will be difficult, but I think that, if we play well, we can beat Brazil”, said striker Maeda, calmly, without any false burst of optimism. “I think it’s 50% to 50%. In the last game against Brazil, we showed our qualities. We respect Brazil enormously, but it’s clear that we also have the possibility of winning,” added coach Hajime Moriyasu.
That last game with Brazil, a 3-2 comeback victory, wasn’t long ago. It was in October last year, in Tokyo. While Carlo Ancelotti was exploring possibilities – the goalkeeper chosen was Hugo, with the defense line formed by Paulo Henrique, Fabrício Bruno, Lucas Beraldo and Carlos Augusto, and none of the five is in the World Cup –, Japan showed its consistency.
Moriyasu took over the team eight years ago, after the 2018 World Cup – in which he was already on the coaching staff, as an assistant. He also worked on the Olympic team and knows very well the generation that is trying to be the first in the country to win a World Cup knockout match.
The situation is very different from that experienced by Carlo Ancelotti, who arrived in Brazil just over a year ago, as the fourth commander in a chaotic cycle for 2026. Even during the World Cup, the Italian has been carrying out tests, such as the unsuccessful attempt with center forward Igor Thiago in the debut, against Morocco.
Japan displays much greater stability, including from a tactical point of view. Even though he likes to rotate some pieces and is facing injury problems, Moriyasu always adopts a 3-4-2-1 formation, with attacking wingers.
One of them is the skillful Nakamura, who plays on the left, but at Reims, in France, he is often a striker. The team has other well-established athletes in European football, such as midfielder Kamada, from England’s Crystal Palace, and striker Ueda, top scorer in the last Dutch Championship with the Feyenoord shirt.
The team has already made noise in 2022, in Qatar. They beat Germany and Spain in the group stage before losing on penalties to Croatia – who would be Brazil’s tormentors. Since then, it has had a bad time with the defeat to Iran in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup, in 2023, but it had a peaceful campaign in the Qualifiers – it was ranked first in the World Cup – and arrived in the United States in a great sequence.
The Japanese team has lost just one of its last 16 games. In that series, they became the first team to defeat Brazil after leaving 2-0 behind and also beat England, at Wembley Stadium, in London, 1-0.
In the World Cup, Moriyasu’s men drew 2-2 with the Netherlands, won 4-0 in Tunisia and secured second place in Group F with a 1-1 draw with Sweden. In these matches they showed tactical discipline, good construction dynamics on the sides of the field, with their wingers and midfielders, and difficulty in marking aerial plays.
High shots could be key for Brazil, which is the favorite, but not like it was in previous clashes. With the significant participation of Brazilian idol Zico in the 90s and at the turn of the century, as a player and coach, Japanese football grew. The national league has become relevant, and the team has reached the knockout stages of the World Cup four times. Now try to take the next step.
The task is difficult. However, in Houston, solid Japan doesn’t need a miracle like Miami’s.
