Brazil manager Mano Menezes was in Paris on Friday night to witness Japan beat France 1-0 ahead of their clash with the Seleção on Tuesday.
Japan, managed by Alberto Zaccheroni, managed to keep the hosts quiet in the Stade de France and claimed an 87th minute winner through Manchester United’s Shinji Kagawa, after fine a fine-counter attack by Yasuyuki Konno and Yuto Nagatomo.
The result was proof enough that Brazil should not expect a repeat of the 6-0 victory over Iraq, with Japan featuring seven Bundesliga players, three Premier League regulars, Nagatomo at Inter Milan and others in Russia, Belgium and Holland.
Having come through a run of straight-forward recent fixtures, the game in Wroclaw will be the first true test of Mano Menezes’ Brazil first-choice side in some time – even though, in the eyes of many, they should still beat the current Japanese side.
Goalscoring hero Kagawa, though, believes Japan will soon be ready to challenge if they continue with their development and work hard to improve more:
“As a team, we were able to score in a quick, wonderful way,” he told Sankei Sports. “But we must work harder to catch up with the top teams in the world. Everybody must have confidence that we can do it.“
