The world’s best soccer teams are capable not only of earning three points for a win, but of turning a loss worth zero points into something more — a lesson that will drive those team’s growth and lead to greater triumphs down the line.

It’s a skill that Japan’s national team has struggled to develop over the years, even as it has sought to learn from the sport’s elite as part of its quest to become the first Asian team to lift the men’s FIFA World Cup.

Narrow losses to top-ranked nations, such as the team’s stunning 3-2 collapse against Belgium in the 2018 World Cup’s round of 16, have been celebrated as moral victories, with the question of “what went wrong” buried under praise for Japan’s valiant efforts.

Meanwhile, repeated matchups against Brazil — a country that has played a pivotal role in shaping Japanese soccer’s development — have more often than not led to crushing defeat from which little more could be gained beyond grim acknowledgement that the gulf separating the Samurai Blue from the Selecao remains vast.

Monday’s 1-0 loss to the reigning world No. 1 may not have presented a clear picture of how wide the distance separating the two teams still is, with many of Brazil’s best players starting on the bench and both sides battling against a constant downpour at Tokyo’s National Stadium.

Yet the grinding nature of the game — scoreless until Neymar’s controversial penalty kick in the 77th minute — presented a clearer picture of the deficiencies and potential in Hajime Moriyasu’s squad than goal-packed slugfests such as the Belgium game or the famous 4-3 defeat to Italy in the 2013 Confederations Cup.

“I think the players showed a reliable and confident mentality that stands up to Brazil or any of the other top nine teams in FIFA,” Moriyasu said. “There will always be tough encounters like these, and even if the situation isn’t ideal, past World Cups have given us experience that lets us fight at the same level as those teams.”

Brazil's Neymar (right) celebrates scoring their first goal against Japan during an international friendly against Brazil at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Monday. | REUTERS
Brazil's Neymar (right) celebrates scoring their first goal against Japan during an international friendly against Brazil at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Monday. | REUTERS

While the Samurai Blue of the previous two World Cup cycles featured stars like Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa taking center stage, the team’s current committee-managed attack failed to click into gear on Monday. Liverpool midfielder Takumi Minamino was ineffective on the left wing and Celtic striker Kyogo Furuhashi was often isolated and unable to receive the ball, with Genk standout Junya Ito providing many of the team’s chances from the right side.

Only with a series of second-half substitutes did Japan begin to test Brazil’s back line as well as Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, with Kaoru Mitoma and Daizen Maeda asserting themselves in the final 15 minutes of play.

“On the whole it’s true that our attack wasn’t able to break Brazil’s defense open, but in terms of our buildup — even absorbing as much pressure as we did in the first half — we were able to keep going in the second half and break into the attacking third,” Moriyasu said.

“If the players had given up it would have been a completely defensive game. But we created situations where Brazil had to move the ball around defensively, and I think we showed that we can be patient and then take our chances on the attack.”

In the absence of established marquee attackers to cheer for, fans at Kokuritsu were instead treated to a taut defensive battle as a mix of Samurai Blue veterans and up-and-comers fought valiantly to keep the likes of Vinicius Junior and Gabriel Jesus out of the net.

Though Neymar earned some of the loudest pregame applause when his name was announced, it was goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda — who at 33 may be approaching his best and last chance of playing in a World Cup — and his back line who garnered some of the biggest cheers of the night with several massive stops against the yellow-shirted opposition.

Japan’s defensive performance did not escape the notice of Cesar Sampaio, a member of Brazil’s coaching staff who spent several seasons in the J. League with Yokohama Flugels, Kashiwa Reysol and Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

"Japan plays a very technical game, and they have a very strong back line," the former defensive midfielder said. "I think the defensive mechanism Moriyasu has created works very well."

But captain Maya Yoshida, whose 117th senior cap saw him surpass legendary goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi to take fifth on Japan’s all-time appearance list, recognized that the Brazil he and his teammates faced on Monday was far from what the team might encounter from top-tier opposition in Qatar.

“There’s a greater difference in our actual ability than we saw in the score, but in terms of fitting together defensively, evading the press and moving the ball, we accomplished some things,” the former Southampton center back said. “But the World Cup won’t be like this. We can’t be proud of a 1-0 loss; we need to improve our precision and our intensity.”

Japan will indeed require all of that and more when the World Cup kicks off in November, with former champions Germany and Spain awaiting in a Group E many have already written off as a European sweep in the making.

Monday’s game offered the sold-out crowd of 63,638 — as well as a bumper TV audience, at 22.4% of Kanto households — an idea of how they can expect the Samurai Blue to defend against Spain’s speed and flair as well as Germany’s individual brilliance.

But in order to take points from those games and bring Japan to the knockout stage for the fourth time, goals will still need to come from somewhere — a challenge that will be Moriyasu’s main focus in the coming weeks and months.

“I think the key lies in our attacking ability,” Moriyasu said. “When we have possession and they’re pressuring us, we have to become better at getting into a good position quickly and moving the ball.

“When we lost the ball we converted to defending quickly and kept them from scoring — all the things you have to do against a top team. We need to keep doing that while we work to raise our attacking power.”