Japan begin their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands in Arlington on Sunday, and Hajime Moriyasu is no longer speaking like a coach setting limits. He has admitted Japan’s failure to get beyond the last 16 has become a mental block, but he is also talking openly about winning the competition.
That shift matters now because Japan arrive with results that have changed the mood around them. They won six out of six in the first round of qualifying, then seven out of 10 in the second round while losing only once, before going on to win six successive friendly matches. Those wins included England and Brazil, the sort of names that force other teams to look twice at Japan’s place in the draw.
For Junichi Inamoto, that kind of discussion would once have sounded far too ambitious. He had briefly returned to Gamba Osaka from his loan at Arsenal before leaving for Fulham, and he played in an era when Japan could point to progress but not to a real breakthrough. The present side has more depth than the teams of that period, and Moriyasu has had time to build it: he has managed Japan since 2018 and is now their longest-serving national coach ever.
The hard edge to the story is that Japan have heard this kind of praise before and still stopped at the same place. They were knocked out by Croatia at the 2022 World Cup after beating Spain and Germany in the group stage. They topped their group at the 2002 World Cup before losing 1-0 to Turkey in the last 16, fell to Paraguay on penalties in 2010 after a goalless stalemate, and let a two-goal lead slip against Belgium in 2018. That is why Moriyasu’s claim carries weight and why it also sounds like a challenge to history, not just to the next opponent.
Japan may be the best Asian side to play at a World Cup, but the label only lasts if it leads somewhere new. Sunday gives them the next chance to turn six straight friendly wins into something more durable, and the first answer will come against the Netherlands in Arlington. If they are going to make the leap, this is the stage where it has to begin.
