International friendlies are often looked upon as little more than an irritation in the crowded calender of the modern game, but as Japan prepares to take on France and Brazil over the coming week, national team manager Alberto Zaccheroni is unlikely to concur.

Japan faces France in Saint-Denis on Friday before traveling to Poland to play Brazil in Wroclaw the following Tuesday, giving Zaccheroni a chance to test his side against the world's best after a steady diet of Asian opposition and uninspiring friendly fodder. Japan has been in impressive form this year with a place at the next World Cup as good as locked up already, but Zaccheroni's ambitions extend further than just making up the numbers in 2014 and the events of the coming week should give a clearer indication of where his team currently stands.

There is certainly no more fitting a place to start than France, and a first return to the Stade de France since Philippe Troussier's side suffered a 5-0 defeat to the then world champions in March 2001. That chastening result was credited for opening Japan's eyes to the scale of the work needed to build a competitive team for the 2002 World Cup on home soil, and although Zaccheroni will be looking for a more positive outcome on Friday, he will hope the occasion proves to be just as enlightening.