Unused to the fanfare, the players filed quietly through the airport arrivals lobby in Tokyo, squinting as hundreds of excited fans snapped away with cameras.
“It hadn't sunk in that we'd won the World Cup until we landed at Narita airport,” Japan captain Homare Sawa, the tournament's MVP and leading scorer, told reporters.
“I'd never seen so many people come to greet us,” added the talismanic leader.
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