At the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo here in Monterrey, I stood before a Rufino Tamayo canvas and saw exactly what Japan will do tonight — layers upon layers of movement, each one building toward something inevitable. Japan's midfield is a living organism; Junya Itō and Takefusa Kubo will find the spaces behind Tunisia's defensive line with the kind of quiet menace that doesn't announce itself until it is already too late. Tunisia's goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen will be a brave and lonely figure, asked to hold back a tide that simply cannot be stopped.

Japan's midfield is simply a different organism here — Wataru Endo orchestrating from deep while Kubo and Itō stretch Tunisia's backline in every direction, and Tunisia's defensive unit simply cannot generate the pressure needed to disrupt that rhythm in a neutral setting. Tunisia's attack of just two estimated attempts tells me they'll be living on the counter all evening, which asks too much of Aymen Dahmen to single-handedly keep this respectable. Japan's Blue Samurai style — quick, intricate, relentless off the ball — is tailor-made to punish a Tunisian midfield that's outnumbered and outpaced in this kind of open, expansive World Cup group stage atmosphere. On a personal note, I attempted a batch of *buñuelos* this week, that gorgeous Monterrey fried dough drizzled with piloncillo syrup — the syrup, let's say, had a mind of its own, but the shape was magnificent.