TOKYO: Japan and Brazil will face off ahead of the Qatar World Cup in a friendly in Tokyo on June 6, the Japan Football Association announced on Wednesday.

“We are very pleased to be playing Brazil, the number one ranked team, at this time as we begin our preparations for the World Cup,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said in a statement.

“We want to build a side that competes with the teams at the top of the FIFA rankings from their perspective and without looking up too much, but also while respecting them. I want to show this attitude in this match.”

Brazil have won the World Cup five times, most recently in 2002.

They are the favourites to take the trophy this year, having breezed through their qualifying campaign unbeaten and set a new record for points in the single South American group.

The match at Tokyo’s National Stadium is one of four warm-up games in the diary for the Japan side, nicknamed Samurai Blue.

They will face Paraguay in the northern city of Sapporo on June 2, and then play as-yet unannounced opponents on June 10 in Kobe and June 14 in Osaka.

The 2022 World Cup begins on November 21.

AFP