HOUSTON — For the third consecutive game — and arguably their biggest ever at the FIFA World Cup — Japan will be without key playmaker Takefusa Kubo for Monday’s massive round-of-32 meeting with Brazil.
But having seen his side get this far even without the Real Sociedad star, Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu is optimistic his charges can still pull off what most would view as a huge upset — and “change history” with a win over the Brazilians.
After being replaced in the Samurai Blue’s opening 2-2 draw with Netherlands, Kubo has sat out subsequent matches against Tunisia and Sweden — staying back at the team’s base in Nashville while they played in Monterrey, Mexico and Arlington, Texas respectively.
Kubo has been on an individual program in a bid to get him back into action but on Sunday — in the 15 minutes of their training session that was open to the media — Kubo continued to train separately from the main group, and did not exactly look in complete comfort as he was put through a few agility drills.
Later in the afternoon, Moriyasu confirmed that they will once again be missing the services of Kubo — who would ordinarily have been the likeliest candidate to unlock the strongest teams at the tournament.
“He’s still only doing individual running [and] training, so he’s not going to play in the match against Brazil,” Moriyasu said.
“We really wish for him to recover swiftly, and he wishes it too.”
Moriyasu acknowledges that things will be different this time around, considering there is far more at stake.
Nonetheless, he believes they can take heart from the fact that few also gave them a chance nine months ago.
“In the world, Brazil are ranked at the top while Japan are not ranked that high — that is the way it is,” he replied, when asked by ESPN if he felt they would still be underdogs given they have been vocal about their aspirations of winning the World Cup this year.
“We are aiming to win the World Cup but we haven’t been at that level before. Of course, some people look at us and feel we’ve been doing well.
“When we look at the future, of course each new occasion gives [the possibility] to believe that we can win. But we do really believe we have that chance. That is something we strive for.
“Brazil are always a leading team. They have a very good chance of winning. Some people will say Japan are underdogs. We will play with that in mind.
“We will respect the opponents but like last year [in the friendly win] we weren’t given a chance to win. This possibility to win — we can change history.
“We’re hoping that we can play the same way with this round of 32 game. The world is looking at us.”
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Being a knockout tie, there is also the chance of match having to be decided by penalties — and Japan only have to think back to 2022 to remember to heartbreak of being eliminated in the shootout by Croatia in the round of 16.
Already, Moriyasu knows one thing he will chance should Monday’s tie go down to that.
“When the moment comes that a shootout is very probably, I will decide the order of the kickers,” he explained.
“Rather than [the players] volunteering, like last time, I’m going to make the decision who is going to take the kicks.”
Should Japan manage to see off Brazil, they will next face the winner of the Ivory Coast-Norway tie at New York New Jersey Stadium on July 5.
