2 min readJun 24, 2026 07:57 PM IST
When 145 students and parents from East Tennessee Japanese School visited Japan’s World Cup training base in Nashville last week, one of them had a speech to deliver. Rui Nishizawa, 14, had rewritten the manuscript many times and practised reading it aloud repeatedly. He had even written a reminder to himself in the text: “Pause briefly.”
Standing in front of the Samurai Blue players and coaching staff, he said, according to Jiji Press: “When we face obstacles while studying and living away from our home country, the way you compete gives us the courage to never give up, no matter what.”
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu reportedly asked staff to obtain a copy of the speech to display in the team’s dining hall. Reflecting on the moment afterwards, he said he “almost cried” when he realised his team’s efforts were encouraging children living far from Japan.
For Japanese children growing up abroad, the national football team carries a weight beyond results. “The sight of you boldly taking on the world’s top players with everything you have has a special meaning for those of us living overseas, far away from home,” Nishizawa told the players.
Japan had arrived at the camp preparing for their second Group F match against Tunisia, after twice coming from behind to draw 2-2 with the Netherlands. They needed a result. They got one — a 4-0 win in Monterrey, the first Asian side to score four goals in a World Cup match.
Nishizawa, asked about the moment afterwards, smiled shyly. “I gave it 120% with my voice,” he said. “My throat is completely dry.”
Moriyasu has spoken throughout this campaign about wanting his players to reach “the greatest stage” — the World Cup quarterfinals, a place Japan has never been. Nishizawa invoked that ambition directly in his close.
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“We absolutely want to see the best view Coach Moriyasu often talks about, together with all of you,” he said.
The Japan Football Association has built this campaign around the slogan “For our greatest stage.” On Saturday in Monterrey, a 14-year-old boy from Tennessee may have helped move them one step closer to it.
