"We want to be the challengers and we will show what we have and do our best. I am sure we have players, who can do that," Moriyama asserted on the eve of their pre-quarterfinal.
In fact Moriyama accepted that if valuation of an English junior like Jadon Sancho is 20 million pound, his Japanese counterparts may be worth a million as of now.
But football is played on the field and so these things would hardly matter after kick-off.
"Football is not about that. We can play and work as a group and things we can do more on the pitch. Sometimes you have to be realistic. All of them can decide on what they want to do on the pitch looking at the situation tomorrow."
Japan's progress to the round-of-16 has not been convincing as they lost to France 1-2 and were held to an agonising 1-1 draw against New Caledonia in their last outing to give a first World Cup point to the tiny pacific island.
Blaming the fatigue factor in the energy-sapping humid conditions, Moriyama said: "It was heat and humidity that made it difficult. Players found it difficult to breathe plus there was a lot of crowd. Definitely, this was a big experience for the players."
"There has been enough watering on the pitches so far, it might be a little bit worse that how it behaved in the first match. But we have no problem it's in good condition."
Japan captain Shimpei Fukuoka is confident that they would do well against the Young Lions despite odds being heavily stacked against them.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
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