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Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu believes his side is edging closer to becoming world champions despite suffering a dramatic 2-1 defeat to Brazil that ended their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign.
Japan exited the tournament in the Round of 32 after surrendering a 1-0 half-time lead, with Brazil’s Gabriel Martinelli scoring a stoppage-time winner in Houston on Monday. Several Japanese players were left in tears after the final whistle.
Although Japan remain without a knockout-stage victory at the World Cup, Moriyasu said their performance against the five-time champions demonstrated how far the team has progressed.
According to the coach, Japan’s national team has improved significantly in recent years, pointing to victories over Brazil and England in pre-World Cup friendlies as evidence of that growth.
He said those achievements had changed Japan’s standing in world football and showed the team was capable of competing with the sport’s elite.
“The strength of the national team has definitely risen,” the coach said.
“Even in friendlies we’ve managed to beat opponents we’d never beaten before.
“Those efforts by the players have unquestionably led to the national team’s improvement, and I believe they have changed Japan’s place in the global football landscape.”
Moriyasu maintained that Japan entered the tournament believing they had a genuine opportunity to challenge for the title and said their display against Brazil reinforced that belief.
He noted that many observers could see how close Japan came to pulling off a famous victory, adding that such performances would further strengthen the country’s reputation as an emerging football power.
“We knew that, as dark horses, we still had a chance to become number one.
“I think we played a match today that could have made people say, if they’d won, who knows what might have happened?
“And by doing so, what happens is that people recognise that we are truly raising our level.
“Even people who don’t really know or pay much attention to football have come to see that Japan is fighting to become world champion and is growing and challenging itself,” he said.
Despite the encouraging display, Moriyasu accepted responsibility for the elimination, saying his own shortcomings as a coach contributed to the team’s failure to achieve its ambition of winning the World Cup.
He acknowledged Japan created enough opportunities to win the match, but were unable to convert them when it mattered most.
“This time we weren’t able to achieve our goal of becoming world champions, and as a coach I feel deeply sorry about that,” he said.
“I felt we had chances. In this match, we played believing we had a chance to win, and in reality, we did have chances we couldn’t take.
“That’s why I feel my own abilities as coach were what fell short the most,” he added.
The 57-year-old, who also guided Japan to a Round of 16 exit at the 2022 World Cup, said no decision had yet been made regarding his future as head coach.
