Japan once felt inferior to the Socceroos. But a 60-team J.League of three divisions has created such depth, Australia enter the World Cup qualifier as underdogs

The last time Australia tasted success against Japan, on a freezing cold night at the MCG way back in 2009, Australian fans unfurled a banner that read: “Nippon: Forever in our Shadow”. This was at a time when Tim Cahill’s heroics in Kaiserslautern, where Australia defeated Japan 3-1 at the 2006 World Cup, were still fresh in the memory. It’s a banner that stuck in the craw of Japanese fans for many years.

Cahill, as he had been in Germany, was Japan’s kryptonite again that night, scoring both of Australia’s goals in front of more than 74,000 fans. In the decade and a half since, however, the paths of the two countries have trended in very different directions. The shadow, as it was, now casts the other way. Since that meeting at the MCG, the record reads six wins to Japan, three draws, zero wins to Australia.