By Michael Church
DALLAS, June 28 (Reuters) - Hajime Moriyasu's quest to lead Japan deep into the World Cup faces a master-versus-apprentice last-32 clash on Monday against Brazil, the country that has done more than any other to shape the game in the four-times Asian Cup-winning nation.
The Japanese squad travelled to North America with ambitions of a run to a first-ever final and the high-profile scalps of Germany, Spain and England over the last four years have added weight to the argument that
the Samurai Blue could excel.
Those hopes, however, face a major hurdle in Houston that represents much more than just another opponent given the overwhelming Brazilian influence on professional football in Japan.
Launched in 1993, the J-League not only took much of its inspiration from the multiple World Cup winners but employed plenty of their players too.
Zico, the creative lynchpin of Brazil's fabled 1982 World Cup team, was enticed out of retirement to join Kashima Antlers while internationals Bismarck and Elivelton started a run of Brazil national team players making the move to Japan.
By the late 1990s, seven of the Brazil team that won the 1994 World Cup, including captain Dunga, had played or were playing for Japanese clubs and, by extension, lent their influence to a rapidly developing scene.
"Anyone who hasn't been paying attention to Japanese football will be surprised," says Cesar Sampaio, who played for Brazil at the 1998 World Cup while contracted to J-League club Yokohama Flugels. "I am not.
"Since I was there I learned that Japanese football is improving, year after year, step by step. Their discipline was something that always appeared to be fantastic.
"But now they have fantastic players such as (Daizen) Maeda and (Ayase) Ueda. They have a great lineup, they played well in their three games and facing Brazil will be their ultimate challenge."
'MIRACLE IN MIAMI'
Japan have had success against Brazil before, but never at the World Cup.
The country recorded a smash-and-grab 1-0 win at the Olympic Games in 1996 that became known as the 'Miracle in Miami' while more significantly Moriyasu's team defeated Carlo Ancelotti's side 3-2 in a friendly in Tokyo in October.
The teams have only met once previously at the World Cup when Zico, perhaps the man who has done the most to shape Japanese football, was in the dugout at the 2006 finals as Japan lost 4-1 in Dortmund to exit the tournament.
That side featured Alessandro Santos, one of three Brazil-born players to have represented Japan in the country's eight appearances at the World Cup.
Defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka was the most recent to do so, featuring in South Africa in 2010 as Japan reached the last 16.
"The match between Japan and Brazil holds deep significance," Tulio told Reuters. "Over the years, Brazil has profoundly influenced Japanese soccer, dating back to the early days of the J-League and the arrival of Brazilian players.
"When I first came to Japan as an exchange student, I used to wonder when the day would come that Japan and Brazil would go head-to-head on equal footing at the World Cup, and that day has arrived sooner than expected.
"In this tournament, the gap between the two teams, including factors like player conditioning, has narrowed more than ever before.
"This represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Japanese national team to defeat Brazil on the World Cup stage."
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Ken Ferris)
