JAKARTA - Japanese national team player Yuto Nagatomo asked his team to 'fight like a samurai' against Croatia in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup. Both teams will duel at Al Janoub Stadium, Monday, December 5, 2022 tonight.
The Blue Samurai, nicknamed the Japanese national team, surprised many by winning Group E in Qatar. They beat former German and Spanish world champions to qualify for the last 16 for the fourth time in their history.
"Yes, I am a person who of course talks very often about samurai. In the world, Japanese samurai are very famous. So, we want to fight like samurai," Nagatomo said.
"I think this is a great opportunity to show how we can fight as samurai," continued the former Inter Milan player, as reported by LiveScore.
In the round of 16 of the 2018 World Cup, the Blue Samurai were eliminated in the round of 16. They were when they surrendered to Belgium with a score of 2-3 after winning two goals.
This time, it is Croatia's turn to try to hinder Japan's desire to reach its first World Cup quarter-finals.
"Of course I never forget [the defeat from Belgium]. It's always attached to me, sometimes I suddenly remember the things of the match," said Yuto.
"The last four years have been very difficult for me, my mind has always been focused on the Qatar World Cup, but we have overcome those four years of challenges and I think we are growing mentally and physically," he added.
This is the third meeting between the two teams in the world's most grand event. In the previous two meetings in the group stage, Croatia won 1-0 in 1998 and drew 0-0 in 2006.
In addition to Russia, Japan was previously also eliminated in the round of 16 after losing to Turkey at the 2002 World Cup and being beaten by Paraguay at the 2010 World Cup.
Japan will make history as the third Asian country to qualify for the quarter-finals if it wins over Croatia. The two countries that had previously reached that stage were North Korea at the 1966 World Cup and South Korea at the 2002 World Cup.
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