Grand awakening of Les Petits Bleus

Bedlam must have been something like this. The cries of near-hysterical supporters mingling with the horn blasts of arriving bullet trains and the bellowed instructions of the harassed station staff through loud-hailers, fearful that some unfortunate was going to fall on the tracks.

The scene at Shin-Osaka station at around 8pm on Friday evening as the joint World Cup hosts' rising sons boarded a special train back to their training camp was something to behold. Nippon-mania had gripped Osaka by its throat.

Nearby, fans, both students and salarymen, as the office workers call themselves, threw themselves from the Ebishubashi Bridge into the Dotonbori River which flows through the city in a ritual display of euphoria, something rarely witnessed in this land of order and self-restraint. It was a spectacle that was to be repeated throughout Japan. Whatever happens now, and who is to say that they cannot secure a quarter-final place, Philippe Troussier's Petits Bleus have finally arrived.

There was a minor earthquake in the Tokyo area on Friday morning, but nothing like the tremors felt in Osaka in the afternoon. It was appropriate that Japan's ascendancy to the last 16 of this tournament should be confirmed within this ugly, polluted conurbation where town planning is an alien concept and in which Buddhist temples, tea gardens, a stark industrial landscape and the skyscrapers of the financial sector co-exist in some kind of surreal harmony.

It was here, on 28 October 1998, that the ebullient and articulate Frenchman Troussier, whom Arsène Wenger recommended to the Japanese FA, began the implementation of his four-year strategy that was to culminate in Japan qualifying from the group phase. Troussier's tenure started with a 1-0 victory over Egypt and reached its zenith with Friday's comfortable victory over Tunisia, a country who have more than once coveted his services.

Every World Cup needs the hosts to progress, otherwise it's a bit like throwing a party, admitting the guests, and then going out for the night. But could anyone have anticipated the co-hosts Japan and South Korea winning their groups, and by two and three points respectively, at the same time as the gaunt-featured players of Argentina, France and Portugal were gathering at the departure lounges? It has taken an eternity since Pak Doo Ik and his fellow North Korean performers became the first Asian team to qualify, in 1966, for others from the Far East to follow. How Japan and South Korea and their supporters have enjoyed the moment.

Troussier's first task, in 1998, was to persuade his newly adopted nation that a physical lack of stature should not necessarily mean they are deficient in football stature. A second was to instil a fiercely competitive attitude in young men who do not grow up kicking a football around in park or street. Nowhere on your travels here do you ever see a set of goalposts.

During his 10 years in Africa, Troussier regarded himself a footballing missionary, as coach of South Africa, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. At least he had relatively fertile land on which to work. This nation of sumo and baseball followers was virgin territory for a football man. "Street football breeds a competitive spirit," says Troussier. "But the kind of street football that is found in African and South American nations is alien to Japan.

"The Japanese players who transferred to European clubs did not have the mental attitude necessary to fight for a position on the team. While visiting Europe, their coaches and team-mates backed up my opinion. They said Japanese players have good skills, but lack desire and good decision-making. In the eyes of their team-mates, Japanese players do not show enough fighting spirit."

The Frenchman also expounds the view that the "the tolerance of European referees for hard physical play puts Japanese players in a vulnerable position" and this handicap, he says, "is intensified in the case of someone like Junichi Inamoto, who plays in a league [for Arsenal, occasionally] known for its physical play. According to Wenger, Inamoto seems to have more confidence playing for Japan than than he does with his club."

That point appears to have been established here, though whether Inamoto returns to Troussier's starting line-up against Turkey is in some doubt. The midfielder (there also appears to be doubt about his continuation on the Highbury payroll) has scored two World Cup goals but was replaced at half-time against Tunisia by Daisuke Ichikawa, whose cross led to Nakata's goal. With his introduction and that of another local player, Hiroaki Morishima, Japan were considerably more enterprising.

According to the captain, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, the bearer of that rather sinister mask which protects a nose broken in pre-tournament training, such was the elation that he and his team-mates danced naked in the dressing room. "It just gets sweeter," said the defender who plays for the local side Gamba Osaka and at one time came close to negotiating a move to West Ham. "The team just exploded after the game."

Miyamoto is one of the less heralded, but none the less crucial components, of a team who have discovered burgeoning self-belief. The Martin Keown of the back three, he blocks and harries with great resourcefulness. However, it is the enterprising and nimble-footed Serie A midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata who will continue to unsettle the most illustrious rearguards. "There is an energy and confidence about the team now and we just keep getting better," said the Parma player, who scored Japan's second goal.

Though at first the nation was caught in two minds about whom to support, their own players or England's, who have been fêted like pop idols, the decision has been made for them, at least until Tuesday, when Turkey are the next opponents destined for the kill.

Initially, the Japanese were ambivalent about whether they really wanted a World Cup in their midst, with anticipated dire consequences to their safety as well as their social fabric. They have been disabused of that notion as swiftly as they have adapted to their role of potent participants. No longer can Japan be regarded merely as amiable and efficient hosts.