Brazil vs Japan World Cup Round of 16 Pre Match Controversy: One Trash Talk, 25,000 Hate Comments, and Two Teams with Completely Opposite Mindsets

25,000 comments flooded in, turning Japanese striker Kenyu Hino’s Instagram into a racist dumpster fire. Brazil’s Globo dug deep and found the feed plastered with xenophobic slurs targeting Asians. On Monday night in Houston, before the Round of 16 even kicked off, the internet had already trashed the scene for Brazil’s team.

The uproar was sparked by a few harsh words Hino shot into the camera for Kyodo News. “Brazil is no longer what it was,” he said. “They’re not a top-tier team like France or Argentina anymore.” Then he twisted the knife: “Neymar’s prime is over.”

A fringe squad player who had only come off the bench once in the entire World Cup, spewing this before a game—it’s more like psyching himself up. Not exactly a well-crafted psychological ploy. But those blunt remarks, however crudely put, hit Brazil’s most glaring soft spot. It’s been 24 full years since that 2002 trophy lift. Nearly a quarter-century. The Samba Boys have replayed their self-doubt on the knockout stage more times than anyone can count, each collapse a fresh mess.

Marquinhos had to step up. The Brazil captain told Cazé TV the comments were “a bit arrogant,” adding, “This will fuel the team.” Standard PR fluff. But when he turned to L’Équipe for another interview, he voluntarily ripped open the nightmare of Brazil’s elimination by Croatia at the last World Cup, even dragging in club-level failures—Paris Saint-Germain’s Club World Cup loss to Botafogo. A captain chasing the title, hyping up the team before a match by listing his own falls as a warning shot. That’s a bit too much naked truth.

The Japanese side across the net tells a completely different story. Just one loss in their last 12 games. Before the match, manager Hajime Moriyasu laid out the tactical debrief from that 3-2 win over Brazil last October. With a concrete victory in hand, Japan’s boss has no fear of showing his cards for an open battle. That 90 minutes last year already proved how well they can drag a heavyweight into the mud and brawl.

Under Carlo Ancelotti, Brazil has forged a defense that can keep clean sheets multiple games in a row. The approach is brutally pragmatic: don’t concede first. Marquinhos put it bluntly, “If Brazil can keep a clean sheet, we’ll be close to advancing.” He added, “The mountain we need to climb is high.”

These words are so down-to-earth they send chills down your spine. A decade ago, if a Brazil captain talked about clean sheets before a game instead of attacking flair or samba artistry, fans would have thought the sky was falling. But with a team that hasn’t touched the gold cup in 24 years, beautiful football is a luxury. Block the goal first. Yet there’s a World Cup curse: when Brazil makes a big deal about clean sheets before a knockout match, they often die a brutal death. Once you start fearing a goal, fear has already seized the locker room.

25,000 hate comments can’t stop Japan’s bus from rolling into Houston. Monday night, when that once-substitute Kenyu Hino steps onto the pitch against Brazil’s defense, Marquinhos better hope that his pre-game review of past meltdowns doesn’t become reality after 90 minutes.