Japan look to turn tables on mentors Brazil on World Cup stage

DALLAS, June 28 : 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