Japan Football Association President Saburo Kawabuchi has said how he feared getting drawn in Group C, the “Group of Death” in next summer’s World Cup finals.

Being drawn in Group F against Brazil in the group stage of the World Cup isn't exactly the best thing for Japan's chances at next summer's tournament, but as far as Kawabuchi is concerned, it could have been far worse.

Japan could have been drawn to play against Argentina, the Netherlands and the Ivory Coast, an outcome that Kawabuchi said he was fearing, before Serbia and Montenegro were drawn in that group.

"We really didn't want to be in that group," Kawabuchi said, "But during rehearsals, Japan was picked in Group C twice, so I was fearing the worst. I can't say our group is a dream group either, but that's life."

Japan will play the defending champions, Brazil, on June 22 in Dortmund after games against their two other Group F opponents, Australia on June the 12th in Kaiserslautern, and Croatia on June the 18th in Nuremburg.

After the draw, Kawabuchi said how positive about the draw that Japan’s National team coach, the former World Cup winning Brazilian legend Zico, was, and how happy he was to be playing his compatriots.

"Zico was saying, 'It's all right, it's all right,' so he's not worried," Kawabuchi said. "If we can survive the group stage then maybe Zico's charisma can carry us after that."

Zico was unusually happy after the draw, which was held in Leipzig, Germany, last Friday night, and was found to be smiling for more than two hours after the draw.

"Playing Brazil comes as little surprise to me," the Brazilian said. "This kind of thing happens in draws carefully orchestrated like this. But it will be easier to play Brazil in the group stages rather than later in the tournament.”

"I thought fate could have been kinder to us, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face when it was announced."

In the seven previous meetings between the two teams, Japan has never managed to beat Brazil, although their two most recent meetings ended in stalemates, including the 2-2 thriller when they met in the Confederations Cup in Cologne in June.

Japan record against Australia is 5 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses, while they have only played Croatia twice, with honours even, both teams winning one and losing the other.

The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stages.

Germany and Costa Rica kick-off the World Cup in Munich on June the 9th, with the final scheduled to take place in Berlin exactly one month later on July the 9th.

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