In October 1993, the coach of the Japan national team, Hans Ooft, scrawled “45 minutes to the USA” on the locker room blackboard at halftime in the final game in the Asian zone of qualification for the 1994 World Cup. His team, needing to beat Iraq to book a debut appearance at the tournament, was leading 1-0 in Doha, Qatar. The clock had run down to 45 seconds when Iraq’s Jaffar Omran Salman scored to tie the game and break the hearts of an entire nation.

The Agony of Doha will never be forgotten, and Japan likes to get it done early these days.

It was the first team to qualify for the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, and will do so for the third straight time if it defeats Jordan in Amman on Tuesday — but a draw could be enough depending on what happens elsewhere. As a fifth consecutive World Cup comes into view however, it is no longer about how soon the Samurai Blue secures its place but how long it stays there.

In the past two decades, Japan has gone from strength to strength. The J.League is 20 years old and widely regarded as the best in Asia. The national team’s first World Cup appearance in 1998 may have resulted in three defeats, but it was another step.

Four years later, Japan was a co-host and in the second round — a feat repeated in 2010 when only a penalty shootout prevented it from reaching the quarterfinals.