São Paulo and Japan: ties that go way back | OneFootball

On this June 29, the national teams of Brazil and Japan will decide their own fate in a direct clash for the 2026 World Cup and, of course, the Historical Archive won’t miss the chance to make the most of the theme and talk a little more about São Paulo’s history, fitting in six very interesting episodes of the Tricolor’s relationship with the Japanese.

THE FIRST WELCOME

The first time São Paulo and the Japanese met in a football match was during the festivities marking the completion of the then “Cícero Pompeu de Toledo,” MorumBIS, in 1970. Just as in 1960, at the inauguration of the still unfinished stadium, São Paulo held the ceremony over two weekends (on that occasion, with matches against Sporting Lisbon and Nacional of Uruguay). This time, the guests were Porto, from Portugal, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, from Japan.

The Japanese team, which was part of the giant business conglomerate of the same name, was touring South America in order to gain experience for upcoming Asian competitions, as well as in their home country, but above all to promote the Mitsubishi name in the places visited.

Although all the athletes were amateurs and company employees – with other jobs – the Japanese squad had some well-known players, including a Japanese-Brazilian (Nelson “Daishiro” Yoshimura). Kenzo Yokoyama, goalkeeper; Hiroshi Katayama and Takaji Mori, midfielders; and Ryuichi Sugiyama, forward, had represented Japan at the 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games, and Vicente Feola, who managed the Brazilian National Team in Tokyo/64, recognized them, as they had even taken part in a training session with him.

The São Paulo man had said they had improved a lot, and that the main characteristics of those players were their off-the-ball speed and quick passing. But for Zezé Moreira, Tricolor’s coach, only the left winger, Sugiyama, had any real skill, standing out from the others. In any case, nine players from the visiting squad were part of the Japanese national team in 1970.

Judging by the newspaper reports: no, the bicycle kick did not work out.

The match against Tricolor would be Mitsubishi’s third on the tour. Before that, they had faced River Plate in Argentina and lost 3-1, but managed to come away from Córdoba with a 1-1 draw against the local select team. (And after the match at MorumBIS, they still faced América-RJ and Flamengo in Brazil – 1-0 and 3-1 to the home sides – and Unión Canárias and the Venezuelan League in Caracas – 2-0 to the locals in both meetings).

After drawing 1-1 with Porto on January 25, and following two youth preliminary matches (Nacional x Pinheiros and São Paulo x Banespa) on February 1, São Paulo beat the guests by one of the biggest routs ever seen to this day at what was then called Cícero Pompeu de Toledo. In fact, it was the biggest win in the stadium’s history up to that point.

11,786 fans watched Zé Roberto score a hat trick, Miruca net twice, and Carlos Alberto, Gerson, and Roberto Dias also get on the scoresheet, for a total of eight goals that afternoon. 8-0 was the final score in favor of Tricolor. A footballing thrashing that, as the footage of the match showed, illustrated that the Japanese still had a very long road ahead in the world football scene.

SÃO PAULO 8 x 0 MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES02/01/1970. Readers Digest National Teams Trophy: Final (single match).São Paulo (SP), Cícero Pompeu de Toledo Stadium – MorumBIS.

SPFC: Sérgio; Cláudio Deodato, Jurandir, Roberto Dias and Tenente; Carlos Alberto (Nenê) and Gérson; Miruca (Válter Zum-Zum), Zé Roberto, Toninho Guerreiro (Babá) and Paraná. COACH: Zezé Moreira. GOALS: Zé Roberto, 8/1; Carlos Alberto, 12/1; Gerson, 18/1; Roberto Dias, 31/1; Miruca, 32/1; Miruca, 8/2; Zé Roberto, 14/2; Zé Roberto, 23/2.

OPPONENT: Kenzo Yokoyama; Yoshio Kikugawa, Tadao Onishi, Hiroshi Katayama and Nelson “Daishiro” Yoshimura (Seiichi Sakiya); Kuniya Daini and Takaji Mori; Ichiro Hosotani (Michio Ashikaga), Kenji Okubo, Hiroshi Ochiai and Ryuichi Sugiyama. COACH: Hiroshi Ninomiya.

REFEREE: Wilmar Serra.ASSISTANTS: João Araújo dos Santos and Pedro Paja…an GATE RECEIPTS: NCr$ 78,177.00.ATTENDANCE: 10,532 paid.

THE FIRST TRIP TO THE EAST

As visitors, however, the first chance for Tricolor to visit the “Land of the Rising Sun” only came in 1989, with the help of the Expressinho in the friendly KKT Gahara Cup. On September 24 – the same date on which the main team would lose 2-1 to Corinthians in the 1989 Brasileirão – in Kumamoto, the São Paulo side would take the field wearing a very rare shirt, the result of a marketing campaign by Japanese TV network KKT (Kumamoto Kenmin Televisions), promoter and broadcaster of the event: one of the station’s brands was printed over the red stripe of the traditional kit.

Not that it was needed, but it brought luck. With the strange logo across the chest, São Paulo beat the 1988/89 Japanese champions, All Nippon Airways (the football team of the airline company that later became independent under the name Yokohama Flügels, today Yokohama F. Marinos after a merger). The score was 3-2, with goals by Manu, Zigomar, and Betinho.

It was in this official Expressinho match (São Paulo’s traditional mixed team – a combination of reserves and youth prospects) that the famous full-back Cafu made his debut for Tricolor – although at the time he still played in midfield.

ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS 2 x 3 SÃO PAULO09/24/1989. KKT Gahara Cup Trophy: Final (single match).Kumamoto (Japan), Mitsuzawa Stadium.

SPFC: Marcos; Osmar, César, Zigomar and José Valdo; Cafu, Betinho and Aritana; Anílton, Manu (Cláudio) and Elivélton (Neto). COACH: Pupo Gimenez. GOALS: Manu, ??/?; Zigomar, ??/?; Betinho (penalty), ??/?.

OPPONENT: Ryuji Ishizue; Fernando Moner, Naoto Hori, Yasuharu Sorimachi and Syuta Sonoda; Motohiro, Masanao, Osamu Maeda and Hitoshi Tomishima; Tatsuya Makiuchi (Hideki Hamada) and Nobuhiko Ueno. COACH: Toshihiko Shiozawa. GOALS: Unknown.

REFEREE: Unknown.ATTENDANCE: ~18,000 paid (higher than the Majestoso, it should be said).

From then to now, São Paulo have had four more matches against Japanese teams (Shimizu S-Pulse, Nagoya Grampus, Jubilo Iwata, in 1995; and Kashima Antlers, in 2013), compiling an overall record of three wins, one draw, and two defeats, with 17 goals scored and nine conceded.

IMPERIAL VISIT

On June 5, 1997, São Paulo had the honor of receiving the official visit of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko. The Japanese imperial court was welcomed by the heads of state of Brazil and the São Paulo state government in a ceremony that included the planting of a cherry tree at the social headquarters, a tour of Tricolor’s trophy room – including an honorary plaque installed in the club’s Memorial – and an exchange of gifts.

The emperor and empress were presented by São Paulo with an amethyst cuirass adorned with a small replica of MorumBIS Stadium.

PLAYER EXCHANGE

Tricolor’s strong bond with Japan was also built through players. One of the first São Paulo players to leave the club and venture into the East was Marco Antônio Menezes de Godoy, better known as Lange, in 1987, when he completed a loan move to Yanmar Diesel Engine.

In fact… The player’s registration rights were exchanged for a machine to trim the Morumbi pitch, high-tech and practically nonexistent in Brazil before the market was opened to foreign products in the early 1990s.

Later, Lange was transferred permanently to Matsushita, also from Japan.

The same path was followed by: Wagner Lopes (Hitachi, 1985, in a story already told here), Ronaldão (Shimizu S-Pulse, 1993); Elivélton (Nagoya Grampus, 1993); Bentinho (Kashiwa Reysol, 1995); Alexandre, midfielder (Kyoto Purple Sanga, 1995); Capone, center-back (Kyoto Purple Sanga, 1996); Emerson, forward (Consadole Sapporo, 1999); Ricardinho, midfielder (Kawasaki Frontale, 2000); Marcelo Ramos (Nagoya Grampus, 2001); Luizão (Nagoya Grampus, 2005); Roger (Kashima Antlers, 2005); Danilo and Fabão (Kashima Antlers, 2006); Leandro (Tokyo Verdy, 2008); Jorge Wagner (Kashiwa Reysol, 2010); Rodrigo Souto (Jubilo Iwata, 2011); Carlinhos Paraíba (Omiya Ardija, 2012); Ademilson (Gamba Osaka, 2017) and Danilo Gomes (Albirex Niigata, 2020).

And the reverse path was also taken, returning from Japan: Bentinho (Verdy Tokyo), forward in 1995; Almir (Bellmare Hiratsuka), forward in 1995; Jorginho (Kashima Antlers), right-back in 1999; Ricardinho (Bellmare Hiratsuka), midfielder in 1999; César Sampaio (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), defensive midfielder in 2004; Christian (Omiya Ardija), world champion forward in 2005; and Borges (Vegalta Sendai), Brazilian champion forward in 2007 and 2008.

Although the contract mentions another piece of equipment, this pamphlet was found among Lange’s documents, which may indicate that this was the machine originally intended…

… or that this was the one actually received.

THE GOLDEN BOY

Captain Tsubasa is not the only manga that São Paulo influenced and appeared in. Even in just a few pages, Tricolor’s crest also appears briefly in a few panels of volume 4, chapter 22 of Golden Boy, a, let’s say, more adult publication (erotic indeed) released by Egawa Tatsuya in 1992.

Anyone who wants to check it out won’t have much trouble finding it on otaku sites…

However, what every Tricolor fan directly associates with Japan is the Club World Cup. And all three of São Paulo’s world titles were won on Japanese soil. At the old National Stadium in Tokyo, in 1992 and 1993, master Telê Santana’s Tricolor defeated their opponents in unquestionable fashion and also won over the local fans for decades.

In 1992, São Paulo came from behind to beat Cruyff and Stoichkov’s Barcelona 2-1 – with both goals scored by Raí. And the following year, they dominated the match against Milan, never trailing on the scoreboard, and beat the Italians 3-2, with goals by Palhinha, Cerezo, and Müller, with a backheel, in the final minutes of the game.

Tokyo also saw Tricolor return to a Club World Cup in 2005, in the first stage of the competition, when São Paulo beat Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia 3-2. The title, meanwhile, came in the city of Yokohama, at the International Stadium, which saw another great European side fall before Rogério Ceni, Lugano, Aloísio and company’s Team of Warriors. São Paulo 1 x 0 Liverpool, goal by Mineiro.

On top of that, between the official titles, São Paulo also won the 1994 Recopa Sudamericana on Japanese soil. In theory, as champions of the 1993 Libertadores and Supercopa, Tricolor would automatically be the Recopa winner, but because of an agreement with the tournament’s sponsors, the club agreed to play the competition against the 1993 Copa Conmebol champions, Botafogo. Thus, in Kobe, Japanese fans saw another São Paulo victory: 3-1, with goals by Leonardo – who would make history in Japan years later – Guilherme, and Euller.

Overall, in Japan, São Paulo have a record of ten matches, seven wins, one draw, and two defeats. They have scored 21 goals and conceded 15.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.