Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Japan’s World Cup round-of-32 tie against Brazil on Monday will be the biggest match in the Samurai Blue’s tournament history, believes Tsuneyasu Miyamoto.
Miyamoto, who captained Japan at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, the former on home soil, has served as president of the Japan Football Association (JFA) since 2024.
Japan finished as runners-up to the Netherlands in a highly competitive Group F, drawing 2-2 with the Oranje and 1-1 with Sweden, either side of a 4-0 rout of Tunisia.
They had 10 different players register a direct goal involvement in the group stage, shattering their previous single-tournament record of eight in 2022 (across four games).
Tuesday’s match in Houston will be Japan’s fifth in the knockout stages of the World Cup, and they have never previously won such a tie.
Three of the four teams to eliminate Japan in a World Cup round-of-16 tie – Turkiye in 2002, Belgium in 2018 and Croatia in 2022 – went on to reach the semi-finals at those tournaments.
At this expanded 48-team tournament, Japan will have to win two knockout ties to reach a first World Cup quarter-final, but Miyamoto believes that is a realistic aim.
Asked if the match against Brazil would be Japan’s biggest-ever, Miyamoto said: “Yeah, maybe!
“But the players and the whole team have confidence, even playing against Brazil. We’re really looking forward to this game.
“We have never reached the quarter-finals, so that is our biggest goal. But we know the team said their goal is to be the champions. That is something we can support.”
FIFAワールドカップ2026
【対戦国情報】vs ブラジル代表
FIFAワールドカップで唯一、1930年の第1回大会から全22大会に参加し、史上最多の優勝5回を誇るブラジル。
ワールドカップ予選は苦しむも、カルロ・アンチェロッティ監督のもと、5位で突破を果たしました。… pic.twitter.com/NvnNv1epJB
— サッカー日本代表 🇯🇵 (@jfa_samuraiblue) June 28, 2026
Japan have won only once in their fourteen previous games against Brazil in all competitions (D2 L11).
However, this victory came in their most recent clash last October, as they won 3-2 in a friendly in Tokyo after trailing 2-0 at half-time.
Brazil have won all four of their previous World Cup games against Asian nations, including a 4-1 victory over Japan in 2006.
Conversely, Japan have only one of their five World Cup matches against South American teams (D1 L3), beating Colombia 2-1 in 2018.
The Opta supercomputer assigns Japan an 18.9% chance of winning the tie in 90 minutes and a 23.3% probability of taking it to extra time, while Brazil – who topped Group C ahead of Morocco – were victorious inside regulation time in 57.8% of pre-match simulations.
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