{"id":48536,"date":"2026-06-27T16:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/48536\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T16:49:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T16:49:07","slug":"new-age-japan-embrace-underdog-mentality-against-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/48536\/","title":{"rendered":"New Age | Japan embrace ‘underdog mentality’ against Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n Takumi Minamino | AFP file photo <\/p>\n

Japan can beat Brazil in the World Cup last 32 by embracing an \u2018underdog mentality\u2019, Monaco striker Takumi Minamino said.<\/p>\n

The two sides clash on Monday in Houston and record five-time champions Brazil will be favourites to reach the next round.<\/p>\n

But Japan, considered by some to be outsiders to go far at the tournament in North America, beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side 3-2 in a home friendly in October.<\/p>\n

And Minamino, who is at the World Cup in a non-playing capacity after suffering a serious knee injury, said they can pull off another surprise.<\/p>\n

\u2018If we play with the underdog mentality, as we always have, I believe we have the ability to make something happen in these one-off games,\u2019 said the 31-year-old, who scored in the friendly win eight months ago.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Friday at Japan’s training base near Nashville, Tennessee, Minamino said attacker Takefusa Kubo could play a part after a knee injury.<\/p>\n

The Real Sociedad winger came off in the 2-2 draw with the Netherlands that launched Japan’s World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n

\u2018He is especially spirited, so he needs no encouragement from me,\u2019 Minamino said, according to Kyodo News.<\/p>\n

\u2018Everyone believes we will welcome him back in the knockout stage, and he is rehabbing with that same belief.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Takumi Minamino | AFP file photo Japan can beat Brazil in the World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5859,5858,5856,5853,5855,5852,8,5857,5854,5850,5851],"class_list":["post-48536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-bangla-online-news","tag-bangladesh-latest-news","tag-bangladesh-news","tag-bangladesh-newspaper","tag-bangladeshi-newspapers","tag-daily-new-age","tag-japan","tag-latest-bangladesh-news","tag-most-popular-outspoken-english-daily-newpaper-in-bangladesh","tag-new-age","tag-the-new-age"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}