The match comes just one day before the twenty-fourth anniversary of Brazil lifting the fifth and final World Cup in its history, which falls on June 30. In 2002, the Japanese city of Yokohama witnessed the Seleção’s victory over Germany with a clean double scored by striker Ronaldo, in the first edition to be held on the Asian continent and jointly organized by South Korea and Japan, an achievement that later turned into an extended and unbreakable knot in the following five editions (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022), the most prominent of which was the bitter milestone of the harsh loss with a result. 7-1 against Germany on Brazilian soil in 2014.
On the other hand, the Japanese national team, under the leadership of coach Hajime Moriyasu, is entering what is described as a “suicide confrontation” against the Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti’s squad. “The Samurai” seeks to continue its ambition of reaching the final 16 for the first time in its history, driven by the outstanding performances it made against major teams such as Germany, Spain and England during the past four years, which raised expectations of the team’s ability to achieve a historic achievement in this tournament held in North America.
