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Just before the 2002 World Cup, South Korea played Scotland and England in the space of a few days. A 4-1 win against the former in the second city of Busan was followed by a 1-1 draw on the honeymoon island of Jeju, with the future Manchester United teammates Michael Owen and Park Ji-sung the scorers. These results gave the Taegeuk Warriors the confidence to reach the semi finals.

Japan are not on home soil but have lined up the same opposition, beating Scotland 1-0 in Glasgow on Saturday before heading to Wembley on Tuesday.

The hope is that these games will help set the scene for a similarly sensational Japanese summer, especially given this Samurai Blue side are much further along the developmental journey than their east Asian neighbours were 24 years ago and the victory at Hampden Park was a comfortable one for what was a fairly experimental team.

Now it is time for England. Thomas Tuchel would have seen from Saturday’s game that Japan are comfortable on the ball and, after a slow start – understandable given the unfamiliar personnel – the four-time Asian champions can operate with cohesion, clarity and control without really getting out of second gear. In the end it was a deserved win against Scotland, thanks to Junya Ito’s goal, the Genk winger finishing off a fine move late on.

“In the second half we opened up quite a bit and created many chances, which was good because we won,” said Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma, who came on at the break and impressed. “But it would have been better if we had made it 2-0 or 3-0.”

After four last-16 exits in the past six World Cups, the message coming out of Tokyo is one of ambition; namely reaching the last eight of this summer’s tournament. Fresh from scoring 54 goals in qualification and conceding only three, there is no mystery as to why the team are seeking tougher tests as they prepare for group games against the Netherlands, Tunisia and the winner of Tuesday’s Sweden v Poland playoff. Quite simply, being the best team in Asia is no longer enough. “I want to see how well what we have done until now will work again against a European team,” Mitoma added. “Even if the players change, it is important to see how much of what we have done until now we can still do.”

When Japan became the first team to qualify for the World Cup last March, the captain, Wataru Endo, told fans at Saitama Stadium that the time when success was getting out of the group was gone. Such sentiments have not come out of nowhere. “I think Japan now has the quality to reach the quarter-finals,” the head coach, Hajime Moriyasu, said. “After that, who knows if we will win or lose.”

Under Moriyasu, who has been in place since 2018, Japan have won six and drawn one of their seven European tests. After coming back from 2-0 down at home against Brazil to win 3-2 in October, a first victory against the South Americans, a win at Wembley would show that the side are the real deal. There is excitement that, after experimenting against Uruguay, England will field a strong team.

The main worry for Japan is injuries. Endo, watching from the stands at Hampden Park, is among a number of prominent absentees, having had surgery in February after injuring his ankle while in action for Liverpool, and he faces a race against time to be fit for the World Cup. Meanwhile the Anfield old boy Takumi Minamino surprised fans last week by posting a picture on social media of a treadmill run only three months after rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament. Another creative force, Takefusa Kubo of Real Sociedad, is injured. Takehiro Tomiyasu was released from his Arsenal contract last year so he could focus on getting fit after chronic problems and, after a first call-up in almost two years, the Ajax defender had to withdraw after his latest knock.

Fortunately there is strength in depth, as the Scotland game showed. Substitutes in that game, such as the Crystal Palace midfielder Daichi Kamada and the Feyenoord forward Ayase Ueda, are set to start on Tuesday, as is Mitoma, back in the blue of his country after six months away. “Against England I want us to be even more aggressive in our defending and see how much we can win the ball back,” the winger said. “In attack there may not be many chances, but I want to test the quality of those we do create.”

Coming up against some familiar defenders will not be a problem, either. “Some of the England players know me, so if they are wary of me, I think I can use that to my advantage,” Mitoma said. “Brighton supporters might come too … it’s also rare to be able to play in such a great stadium as a member of the Japanese national team.”

But no longer are Japan just happy to be here. They want to win – and confidence is high. “Until now, whenever we played against a World Cup-winning team, the expectation was that we would lose,” Moriyasu said. “Now nobody knows.”