Like the slice of the katana, Japan's invincible march to the 2022 FIFA World Cup

Japan is the last team I mentioned about, not because of any prejudice against Japan. Rather, I'd say the final mention of Japan was the result of extreme difficulties.

Well, all we can realise is Japan's position in Asia is unquestionable. It's currently Asia's most formidable, as seen by its rapid development since the 1990s. It's far, far run from the previous amateur status of this country before the foundation of J.League. It's, even more, to say when Japan's rise to prominence came despite a great lack of football background - Japan's most popular sport has been baseball, a legacy of American influence in the nation.

So how has a baseball-dominated country turned so powerful in football? It's about ambitious projects to implement. From the 1980s, Japanese sporting investors realised baseball would not bring the needed revenues due to the lack of popularity in other nations from outside the United States. This forced the Japanese to rethink its strategy, the country's important football developers moved abroad to study a model. Eventually, the Japanese borrowed the German model of Bundesliga, then still a highly competitive football league in Europe, to incorporate into their future J.League.

Of course, Japan did not borrow all of the German elements. The Japanese also sought French, Brazilian, Spanish, Italian and Argentine flavours into the future football league and started to professionalize all the football teams in Japan. Still, the German influence maintains strong within the league, largely due to historical affinity with Germany, and Japanese admiration of German ethics.

But every beginning never starts easy. Japan missed out on the 1994 FIFA World Cup in an agonistic qualifying match, a 2-2 draw in Doha against Iraq that enabled arch-rival South Korea to progress at the expense of Japan. The failure to reach the U.S. was painful to the point Japanese media called it the "Agony of Doha". Not until four years later, Japan booked its historic ticket to the grand stage, after a 3-2 win over Iran to a golden goal by Masayuki Okano. In France 1998, Japan demonstrated a great performance than expected for a debutant but still left with three straight losses and a maiden World Cup goal by Masashi Nakayama.

The Japanese rarely have the words "surrender". Immediately after 1998, Japan improved and in the 2002 edition held at home soil (as one of the co-hosts, the other being South Korea), Japan broke to the last sixteen for the first time ever. Since then, Japan has never failed to appear in the grand stage, the most recent one in Russia 2018 ended with Japan repeating the same result of 2002 and 2010.

The 2022 qualifiers saw complete domination of Japan in the second round. Drawn with the likes of Myanmar, Tajikistan, Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan in group F, Japan easily smashed the remaining opponents, including two thrashing 14-0 over Mongolia and 10-0 win over Myanmar at home.

We can also mention that the Japanese anime and manga industry did play a vital role. The famous Captain Tsubasa manga inspired not just only Japanese but foreigners like Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane, Alexis Sánchez, Iniesta, Neymar and Francesco Totti to take up their boots. In many ways, Japan realised the power of anime and made it happen in the football world.

No secret, Japan in the third round is definitely recognised as the biggest test for any team in the qualification. Not just having quality and quantity, Japan is also bolstered with a good establishment. Players like Takumi Minamino, Kento Hashimoto, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Takuma Asano, Maya Yoshida and especially Real Madrid-based Takefusa Kubo, represent Japan's combination of veterans and youngsters. Also, Japanese players have demonstrated the capability of playing with different formations and styles, which is necessary: Japan came to South Africa 2010 by using a somewhat relaxing attacking philosophy of manager Takeshi Okada; qualified for 2014 World Cup in Brazil despite applying the defensive approach of Italian manager Alberto Zaccheroni; then qualified for 2018 World Cup with a dual-tactic of fighting ball adopted from the Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodžić. The diversity of tactical uses mean that Japan can have plenty of options to deal with different opponents, a clear edge compared to the remainders.

Yet even with plenty of advantages do not rule out Japan's weaknesses, though they may be easily fixed. The current Japanese generation has a relatively average height, somewhat smaller than their predecessors who were tall, though the upcoming generation will definitely solve this problem judging by the youth sides Japan have. Moreover, although very well-organised, Japan is still somewhat prone to overfocusing, resulting in Japan could face traps from its rivals. Indeed, Australia and Saudi Arabia promised to deliver some hardship as they are also contenders for the World Cup place, but Japan can't also rule out China, Oman and Vietnam. Vietnam has caused significant problems for Japan back in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup; while China and Oman have faced Japan a number of times and have knowledge of how Japan played.

In the end, Japan is still the most consistent in the group, and definitely an undisputed head in this group B. It'll be a shock if Japan fails to appear in Qatar for the big party in 2022. The people don't nickname Japan "Blue Samurai" for any wrong reasons. Like a katana within the hand, it can cut off everything in just an act.