The eyes of the world will be on the five-time world champions and, in particular, on one player: Neymar.

At 34, the veteran is already a legend of the ‘Amarelinha’ and remains the national team’s all-time leading goalscorer, with 79 goals.

In recent years, however, the star has suffered a series of injuries that have kept him off the pitch on several occasions, both for his club and for the national team.

Prior to this World Cup, the player – who has been nominated nine times for the ‘Ballon d'Or’ award – had not played for Brazil since October 2023.

That changed last Wednesday, when Neymar came on in the 31st minute of the second half of the match against Scotland, in the final round of the group stage.

Brazil won 3–0 and, although the Santos legend did not directly contribute to any of the goals, it was possible to see glimpses of the same hunger and passion that Brazilian fans have known and admired for years.

In just 14 minutes on the pitch, he created three great chances and even had a shot on goal, forcing Scotland’s goalkeeper Angus Gunn into a save.

Neymar came on as a substitute for Matheus Cunha, who has already scored three goals in three matches in the tournament. As such, it seems unlikely that the Manchester United forward will lose his place in the starting line-up against Japan – perhaps another player will make way for Neymar.

After all, as well as being the all-time top scorer for the national team, Neymar is also among the Brazilians with the most World Cup goals, with eight to his name.

Brazil face Japan, currently the highest-ranked Asian team in the FIFA rankings, who, incidentally, defeated the Seleção for the first time in history last October.

Of the 14 matches between the two nations, Japan have emerged victorious on that one occasion only, whilst Brazil have 11 wins and two draws.

Over the course of these 14 matches, the Japanese have scored eight goals, compared to 37 for the Brazilians.

And of those 37 goals scored by Brazil, nine were netted by none other than – you guessed it – Neymar.

In other words, almost a quarter of all the Brazilian national team’s goals against Japan in history bear the signature of the number 10.

In the 11th meeting between the two sides, on 14 October 2014, all four goals in Brazil’s 4–0 rout came from Neymar, then aged 22 and thrilling crowds for Barcelona.

Brazilian fans would certainly love to see a similar performance from their idol today, more than a decade later.

Will he be able to deliver?

We’ll find out soon.