Samurai Blue

Yesterday, the living football god Zico named the 23 that will play for Japan in what must be the most popular sports event on earth, the World Cup. Less than a month from now, famous players like Takahara, Nakamura, and Nakata--all playing in FCs in Europe--will go against other teams in group F headed by none other than Brazil, the most successful team ever. What pressure it must be for these 23, tagged by Japanese media , to say the least, as Samurais. Yep, those honored foot soldiers who were subordinates only to emperors and shoguns but were widely feared or hated by the multitude of farmers before the Meiji restoration. After sheathing their swords for a little more than a century, they now find themselves wearing blue.