We caught up with the Japanese national team the day before their match at "Jerry World" — aka Dallas Stadium — for the FIFA 2026 World Cup.We had been walking around downtown Dallas after a wonderfully heavy Tex-Mex lunch, taking in the sights of a city completely caught up in World Cup fever.Soccer fans gather at a FIFA World Cup fan zone in a downtown Dallas park to watch live tournament action on a giant outdoor screen.(Bryan Preston/Fox News Digital)When we found out Team Japan was staying at the W Hotel just a few blocks away, we decided to brave the 90-degree Texas heat and walk over just to see what was happening.
Our timing couldn’t have been better.WATCH THE WORLD CUP FINAL ON FOX ONEAs we hit the corner of Nowitzki Way and Houston Street — aptly named after an NBA legend and a hero of the Texas Revolution — police were blocking off the light Saturday afternoon traffic. A motorcycle cop flashed his lights and blared his siren, and then we saw it: a massive bus decked out in blue, sporting the unmistakable red disc of the Land of the Rising Sun.The bus pulled up to the W, and we moved toward the barrier.A dozen or so Japanese fans were waving and bouncing like a J-Pop band had just arrived, shouting players' names as they stepped off the bus. They were just returning from their local training base at SMU, but the energy was already electric.Japan's FIFA World Cup 2026 team bus arrives under police supervision in a host city ahead of tournament activities.
(Bryan Preston/Fox News Digital)As social media has proven since the tournament kicked off, Japan is absolutely soccer-crazy.Case in point:What elicited those deafening chants long before kickoff?Simply a live broadcast of the team getting off the bus at the stadium.
Not warming up, not kicking a ball —just walking to the locker room.Japan and the Netherlands are honored during a FIFA World Cup pre-match ceremony as giant national flags are displayed across the field before kickoff.(Bryan...