{"id":2247,"date":"2026-06-29T14:32:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T06:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=2247"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:32:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T06:32:50","slug":"moriyasu-praises-united-japan-on-eve-of-brazil-world-cup-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/29\/moriyasu-praises-united-japan-on-eve-of-brazil-world-cup-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Moriyasu praises &#8216;united&#8217; Japan on eve of Brazil World Cup clash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"665\" src=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-31.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-31.png 1000w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-31-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/image-31-768x511.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu says his side&#8217;s collective spirit can fire them into the World Cup last 16 when they face Brazil in Houston on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Considered dark horses to go far in North America, Japan finished runners-up behind the Netherlands in their group with one win and two draws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the eve of the knockout game against the five-time World Cup winners, Moriyasu praised the attitude of his squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;All the players will do what they can for the team and contribute,&#8221; he said on Sunday. &#8220;The team is united and that feeling is getting even stronger now.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moriyasu will again be missing Takefusa Kubo after the winger suffered a knee injury in the 2-2 draw with the Dutch that opened their World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japan beat Brazil 3-2 at home in a friendly in October, but Moriyasu said Carlo Ancelotti&#8217;s side will be a different proposition in Houston. He feels Brazil will want a measure of revenge following that defeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It is a different team and they will be more motivated to play against us, they will be intent on beating us,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We feel the match will be very intense,&#8221; he added. &#8220;We have a chance and it will be tough&#8230; we will be at full force.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japan have never gone beyond the last 16 of the World Cup, while Brazil are chasing a record-extending sixth title. Brazil will also have had more time to recover, having finished their group stage a day before their opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moriyasu conceded Japan will be &#8220;relatively disadvantaged&#8221; as a result, but said it was no excuse. The winners will face Norway or the Ivory Coast next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four years ago, Japan stunned Germany and Spain in the group stage but then lost on penalties in the last 16 to Croatia. Brazil lost in the quarter-finals, also on penalties to Croatia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu says his side&#8217;s colle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2249,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions\/2249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}