Philippe Troussier was not the only Frenchman elated with the surprisingly good performance of the Japanese squad in the FIFA World Cup.
For Christophe Bezu, president of adidas Japan K.K., it meant skyrocketing demand for the company's products. "It helped our sales enormously," he said.
"We were like Troussier," said Bezu, who noted that his firm's sales grew considerably thanks to Team Japan making the second round and explained that in that sense, "the mission" of his firm was also accomplished.