Former French coach Troussier has praised Japan's recent progress and expressed confidence that they can win the knockout match against Brazil.
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Japan will be confident that they can beat Brazil when they face them in the last 32 of the World Cup.
Former Japan coach Philippe Troussier (pictured) believes that beating Brazil will be a reward for the country's recent development in football. Under the leadership of French coach Troussier, Japan played in the 2002 World Cup, when Japan jointly hosted the tournament with South Korea. At that time, Japan reached the last 16. This was only Japan's second appearance at the World Cup.
Japan has not lost a World Cup since then. This time, Japan openly claimed that they could win the World Cup. This same Japan will face Brazil in the knockout stage match in Houston on Monday. Troussier believes that Japan has no reason to be worried when facing the record five-time winners, but rather to be confident.
The 71-year-old coach says, "Anything is possible in football." Japan looks very confident now. There is no shortage of talent in this team. Japan has made a lot of progress technically in the last few years. Now Japanese players are also very experienced at the top level. Those players are playing for big clubs in Europe. Brazil will only be strong on paper for now.'
According to him, there are still many weaknesses in the Brazilian team. Japan can take advantage of this. Japan appointed Trouser during the 2002 World Cup. At that time, even though they were playing the World Cup at home, the Japanese team was considered a weak team. The J League was founded in 1993. All the players who played in that World Cup were produced in that domestic competition.
When Trouser was still young, Hidetoshi Nakata and Shinji Ono, who were considered young talents, got the chance to play professional football abroad. This trend has increased dramatically in the last two decades. All but three players in the current Japanese team play in Europe, mainly for clubs in England, Spain and Germany. When Troussier was the Japanese coach, he felt that Japanese players could make great progress in the future.
He says, ‘In my experience, as talented as the young players in Europe and Africa are, Japanese players are no less than them. The greatest Japanese players are disciplined. They are also technically alert. The only problem back then was the lack of experience. Now, even experience is not a problem.’
Japan has not done everything they could have hoped for in the World Cup in North America. On Friday, Japan was held to a 1-1 draw with Sweden. Japan is confident this time, having defeated Brazil in a friendly match in Tokyo last October. This was Japan’s first victory over Brazil.
