Takeshi Okada faces the biggest test of his second coming as national team manager against Australia on Wednesday night, but there is evidence to suggest the optimistic noises he has been making recently have some justification.
Not too much can be read into Japan's 5-1 friendly win over Finland this week, coming as it did against a second-string side, but several impressive individual performances have nonetheless strengthened Okada's hand for the game in Yokohama.
For a team that has long struggled to score goals, Shinji Okazaki's brace against the Finns should offer plenty of encouragement. The decisive manner in which he took his chances was so unlike the shilly-shallying that has plagued Japan's game that finding the striker a starting place against Australia must be prominent in Okada's thoughts.