Crystal Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada played 85 minutes for Japan in their first ever win over Brazil on Tuesday.
Japan hosted Brazil in an international friendly on Tuesday, and despite being 2-0 behind at the break, the Japanese eventually pulled it back and won the game 3-2.
Goals came from Takumi Minamino, Keito Nakamura, and Feyenoord’s Ayase Ueda in what is the country’s first ever win over five-time world champions Brazil.
Crystal Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada started the game in the heart of midfield. He and his teammates all put in a big shift with the Palace midfielder completing 51 passes in total, with a pass success rate of 93%.
On top of that, the 29-year-old recorded five defensive actions (all interceptions), with one shot blocked, coming off after 85 minutes.
Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty ImagesDaichi Kamada did a thankless job for Japan in win over Brazil
Despite some impressive stats, Kamada’s efforts against Brazil largely seemed to go unnoticed, as they so often can for players like Kamada in the middle of the pitch.
Sofascore gave him the second lowest rating of any outfield player who started the game, with a 6.3 score, and Japanese outlet SportsDunia only gave the former Lazio and Frankfurt man a 5.5/10 rating as well.
But they wrote positively of the Crystal Palace favourite: “Daichi Kamada held the fort down for his team today. His calls were invaluable for the Japanese team’s dominance in winning the second and third balls as the Brazilian midfielder struggled to get their foot down in the midfield today.”
In 46 caps for Japan, Kamada has an impressive 11 goals from midfield. However in 52 games for Palace, Kamada has just two goals, with five appearances to his name in the Premier League so far this season.
Have Japan qualified for the 2026 World Cup?
We’re rapidly approaching the 2026 World Cup and we’re quickly starting to see which teams will be involved, with England securing their qualification after beating Latvia on Tuesday night.
And Kamada’s Japan have already qualified too, along with Australia, Iran, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Uzbekistan from the AFC.
From Africa; Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, and Tunisia have all qualified, whilst New Zealand have qualified from Oceania.
From South America, all of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay have qualified whilst England are the only UEFA team to have qualified so far.
Crystal Palace return to action against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday.
AloJapan.com