Moriyasu praises 'united' Japan on eve of Brazil clash

I think Japan will be Brazil, but it is going to be a exciting game.

Japan will loose and the comments will read that they fought with a real samurai spirit etc..

both teams have surpassed their summits. Japan 4 years ago and Brazil over 25 years ago.

Japan 4 - Brazil 3. Game of the tournament with end-to-end attack from the first whistle!

I hope to god Brazil win cause if they don't can you imagine the news headlines for the next week? They're still showing the goals from the 2-2 draw with Holland.

Anyway once Japan get knocked out, the World Cup coverage on telly here will be well & truly over.

If Japan had their best players I think they could have beaten Brazil.

as it is, I will predict 2-1 Brazil

Japan has been playing soccer like never before, but will loose, like always before. Vai Brasil!!!!!!

both teams have surpassed their summits. Japan 4 years ago and Brazil over 25 years ago.

That's ridiculous - nothing indicates Japan have surpassed their summit. But they do have a lot of injuries to key players, and it's not as if they dominated Germany and Spain 4 years ago. They could easily have lost both games, just like they could easily lose to Brasil. Just a bad draw for all 3 teams that qualified from Japan's group.

Brazil cannot be happy about their draw against Japan. Netherlands and Brazil face probably the hardest first bracket rounds of any teams finishing first in their groups. I would not be surprised at upsets in either match.

As well as Japan has been playing, they would need lots of luck to beat Brazil.

Brazil will beat Japan 3-1.

And sorry to vent, but Japanese World Cup match announcers/commentators are a real pain to listen to and are boring.

When they are calling matches that don't involve Japan, they spend half of the matches they are supposed to be calling, yapping about irrelevant topics that don't have anything to do with the match itself. Unless it's Japan that's playing, they also announce without any emotion and even when a goal is scored, they treat it as if someone just ordered takoyaki to go.

I really miss watching Spanish-language soccer commentator Andres Cantor, whom I used to watch while growing up starting with the 1986 World Cup. It didn't matter who was playing but he always announced with passion.

Now hat's a real sports announcer there!!

Go Japan!!..

I really miss watching Spanish-language soccer commentator Andres Cantor

He was the best.

Game prediction: Brazil 2 Japan 1 in extra time.

The thing about football is, anything can happen on the day. Expected victor's can be defeated, or they can steamroll the opposition. It comes down to a number of things.

Nerves of the players and the coaches.

Experience and skill, and whether the skill comes out on the pitch on the day, or not.

Luck plays its part. Lucky call from the ref. Lucky the shot that hit the post deflected into the goal rather than away from it. Lucky a player does not get injured in play after a clash.

And at the end of a drawn game, the luck in taking penalties, kicking where the goalie isn't, and not missing the goal completely by shooting high or wide.

Is the weather favorable to your side or will it help the opponent?

And the fans, are there enough to make the noise levels that spur on a team, or do the get whistles from a mostly hostile crowd that dampens spirits?

So many factors that indeed, any outcome is possible. The only requirement is that your team is one of those playing, then you have your chance.

Good luck to both sides, but I hope Japan wins. If they can get to the finals they might meet another AFC side, if Australia can be as skillful and lucky on the other side of the draw.

Long odds to be sure for both Japan and Australia, but one thing is certain, they will both fight to win from the first whistle to the last.

1-0 at the half! Japan is mostly content to let Brazil control the ball, and then spurt forward with targeted attacks. It’s worked.

Sano’s solo run for that goal was a thing of beauty.

As relentless as Brazil has been pressing up front, Japan’s defense is following its bend-don’t-break style. They have made a few mistakes giving away the ball to Brazil in dangerous positions, which Brazil will eventually punish a team for, but so far Japan has prevented any really good shots on goal. Crosses and passes are getting frustrated, leaving Brazil to shoot only low-percentage long shots.

The yellow cards have been handed out pretty loosely. The Brazil yellow was deserved. Probably only one of the Japan cards was. Hopefully that doesn’t impact what so far has been a tight match.

And with that, Japan follows South Korea out of the World Cup

I'm happy Japan didn't win, mostly because of the increasing nationalism over there. Thanks, Brazil, for bringing some much-needed relief.

I told you. . . Like always.

All the Brazil boo birds take note: I called this one last Friday.