After perhaps the most unconventional, daunting and frustrating qualifying campaign in team history, Samurai Blue have qualified for a seventh straight FIFA World Cup and have a chance to once again test Japan¡¯s might against soccer¡¯s elite.
Thursday night¡¯s rain-soaked 2-0 victory over Australia was emblematic of the kind of results this Japan side has achieved over the past six months in Group B of Asia¡¯s third and final qualifying round.
Despite head coach Hajime Moriyasu¡¯s men looking superior both on paper and on the pitch, the grueling affair in Sydney seemed almost destined to end in a scoreless draw until late substitute Kaoru Mitoma instantly turned the game on its head with a pair of goals in his 10-minute appearance.
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