In the early morning of June 30 (Vietnam time), the match between the Japanese and Brazilian national teams attracted the attention of football fans around the world.
The 1-2 defeat to Brazil closed the journey of the Asian representative at the biggest football festival on the planet.
On social networks, fans are widely sharing drawings of Japanese players facing Brazil in a football match.
This is an image from the famous football manga "Captain Tsubasa" by artist Takahashi Yoichi.
Accordingly, the shared photos are scenes from the final episode of Captain Tsubasa's animated film "Road to 2002" 24 years ago.
The setting of this film is the opening match of the 2002 World Cup, when the Japanese national team faces the Brazilian national team.
In the film, Japanese players such as Tsubasa playing for FC Catalunya (model from Barcelona), Hyuga playing for Piemonte (inspired by Juventus), goalkeeper Wakabayashi starting in the Bundesliga, Misaki playing in France... All return to wear the Japanese national team jersey to the World Cup.
Captain Tsubasa's success is associated with the passion for football of author Yoichi Takahashi. In an interview with FIFA in 2022, he said that he himself was not a football fan since childhood.
Only when watching the 1978 FIFA World Cup on television did Takahashi become fascinated by the speed, technique and passionate atmosphere of this sport.
That experience motivated him to write a series of stories about football with the desire that Japanese people would also love and play this sport more.
At the 2026 World Cup, the Japanese national team closed the group stage in second place in Group F and will face Brazil - the team holding the first place in Group C and also one of the top candidates for the championship.
Although Brazil has a dominant head-to-head record in the past, however, Japan once caused a stir when defeating the 5-time world champion team with a score of 3-2 in a friendly match in October 2025.
Although the results of the round of 32 were not as expected, Japan's performance still received positive reviews.
Stopping before Brazil closed the World Cup where Japan first passed the group stage with an unbeaten record, and at the same time continued to show the progress of the land of the rising sun football in the world arena.
