Until 30 years ago, soccer in Japan was a rather insignificant sport.
In the land of the rising sun, the masses loved mostly baseball.
But then, in 1992, the J League, the new professional league, was established in the country.
Senior coaches such as Arsene Wenger and Zico, and global superstars such as Gary Lineker, Toto Scilacci, Ramon Dias and Dunga came to Japan.
The popularity of soccer gained crazy momentum, the younger generation fell in love with the game, and the Japanese association set themselves a task - to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.
Asia was then awarded two tickets to the World Cup in the USA (1994), and six teams competed in the final tournament held in Doha, Qatar. In the fourth and penultimate round, Japan surprised by beating South Korea 0:1, so a victory in the last game against Iraq would have given them a historic promotion to the World Cup.
More than 29 years have passed since that dramatic game, but in Japan they never forgot it, and certainly not Hajima Moriasu, the 25-year-old midfielder of that team.
The Japanese safely led 1:2 when the game went into overtime.
On the bench and in the stands, the celebrations had already begun, but then the Iraqi substitute Jaafar Omran got up in the box and hit the net - 2:2.
The stunned Japanese players fell to the grass.
They had no strength to resume the game.
The dream was brutally shattered.
When someone in Japan talks about the "Doha tragedy", everyone knows exactly what they are talking about.
Even in South Korea, which qualified at the expense of the Japanese, only there they call what happened then in the capital of Qatar "the miracle of Doha".
Everyone and their point of view.
Japan players celebrate.
The generation that changed everything, photo: Getty Images
"Times have changed"
Japan qualified for its first World Cup in 1998, four years after the "Doha tragedy", and since then it has not missed a single World Cup, but Moriasu the player did not fulfill his dream of reaching the final tournament of the World Cup, since he retired from the national team in 1996 - But he did it as an assistant coach four years ago in Russia.
Now, some 29 years after he was a participant in the biggest sporting tragedy of Japanese football, Moriasu returned to Qatar to make amends as the coach of the national team, and to close his personal circle - and this time with a victory.
In the meantime, he already has three of these: two sensational ones over the former world champions Germany and Spain, and of course the qualification for the round of 16 from first place in the toughest house in the World Cup.
Japan didn't steal their victories here.
Moriasu, through great substitutions and clever tactical changes during the game, led his team to unprecedented success.
Both against Germany and Spain, Japan knew how to turn a deficit into a victory.
"When there was a minute left in the match against Spain, I remembered the 'Tragedy of Doha', but at that exact minute my players came forward aggressively and fought for the ball," said the happy Moriasso at the end.
"I felt that times have changed. These players belong to a new generation of Japanese football."
Moriasu's words are accurate.
The 1993 team was made up entirely of players who played in the local league.
In the current team, 19 of the 26 squad players come from European leagues, including eight from the powerful Bundesliga.
Moriasu, who played almost his entire career at Sanforca Hiroshima, also began his coaching career there, and in five seasons he won three championships.
Japanese players.
Most of them are already playing in Europe,
In 2017, he was appointed coach of the Olympic team, ahead of the Tokyo Games, and led it to the semi-finals.
A year later he received the national team, marched it to the final of the Asian Championship in 2019 (losing in the final to Qatar) and the World Cup.
Glass ceiling
Three times in the past, Japan qualified for the round of 16, and lost.
When it hosted the tournament in 2002 (along with South Korea), it was defeated by Turkey.
In 2010 in South Africa, Paraguay defeated them in a penalty shootout, and in Russia in 2018, Japan already led 0:2 over Belgium, before conceding in the 94th minute and losing 3:2.
Tonight, against the world runner-up Croatia, the "Blue Samurai" will try to make history and qualify for the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time.
With a talented and charismatic coach like Hajima Moriasu, it's entirely possible.
The winner ratio for Japan's win is 3.50, for a draw 3.00, for Croatia's win 2.00
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