Japan players Hiroki Sakai and Takefusa Kubo have credited Saudi Arabia for inspiring their nation to come from behind and cause another World Cup upset on Wednesday November 23.
The Samurai Blue came from 1-0 down to beat Germany 2 - 1 in another biggest upset of the tournament.
The victory came a day after Saudi Arabi also came from one down to defeat Argentina on Tuesday, and Sakai, via beIN SPORTS, praised his side's Asian rivals for helping his team believe in themselves.
The 32-year-old said: 'Yesterday Saudi Arabia showed us a very valuable game against Argentina. We all thought, if we can just keep the deficit to one, you never know what could happen next.'
Midfielder Kubo added: 'We were down 1-0 at half-time just like Saudi Arabia, and just like them we were able to achieve a great comeback victory.'