The finale may be still ahead of us, but in many parts of Tokyo yesterday the discounted shirts of Japan's beaten team were the only reminders that the World Cup had ever passed through these parts.

Things, though, have always been a little different across the short stretch of water that separates this vast and vibrant city from Yokohama.

For nearly a century and a half the former fishing village of Yokohama has provided a refuge for the foreigners who come here hoping that Japan will share a little of its prosperity with them. Few can have arrived there with more unlikely dreams than the two managers whose teams will contest tomorrow evening's final of this 17th World Cup at the city's huge international stadium. Both Brazil's Luis Felipe Scolari and Germany's Rudi Völler know, however, that for one of them the fairytale is about to end.

That either of these teams has made it this far is a tribute to the coaches' ability to coax the best out of sides that have obvious limitations. Neither has been dramatically transformed from the sides that made such hard work of getting to these finals, but each has come close over the past few weeks to achieving perfection in playing to their strengths.

Brazil's strength is sweeping forward at speed and scoring what are often spectacular goals, and this is sure to make them popular favourites to take their fifth world championship. To do so, however, a team that has already matched the achievement of Mario Zagallo's back in 1970 by winning six games at a finals tournament may well have to be at their very best.

Scolari looks certain to have his best side available, with Ronaldinho returning from suspension and everybody declared fit yesterday. Edilson did well when he replaced Ronaldinho against Turkey in Wednesday's semi-final, but it hard to see Scolari resisting the temptation to revert to the formula employed so successfully against England in the quarter-finals.

On that occasion Ronaldinho linked up superbly with Rivaldo and Ronaldo to produce a wonderful display of fluent, attacking football and the result was a mauling for Sven-Goran Eriksson's men. There was also a more restrained role for Cafu and Roberto Carlos, who will presumably be expected to show more respect for the attacking capabilities of Germany's wide men tomorrow than they did for Turkey's on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, given the ease with which the Brazilian pair press forward, the ability of players like Torsten Frings and Marco Bode to pose a threat down the wings will be important for the Germans. Apart from their team's heavy reliance for goals on the aerial ability of Miroslav Klose there is also a desperate need to occupy Brazil's wing backs.

Germany's best hope of scoring, however, probably rests with their central midfield where, if they do not become endlessly entangled in chasing back after the likes of Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, Dietmar Hamann and Bernd Schneider are capable of threatening Lucio, Roque Junior and Edmilson, a defensive unit that, despite having improved as the finals have gone on, has still not come close to matching the contribution of the strikers.

What Germany do best, of course, is defend, and the fact that Robbie Keane remains the only man to have put the ball past the side's inspirational goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, at these finals is a measure of just how successfully they have set about their task here.

Carsten Ramelow and young Christoph Metzelder have both performed outstandingly, while the willingness of the midfield to work hard on limiting the openings available to opponents has also been a huge factor in Germany's progress.

Michael Ballack took the lead in supporting the front men, and Hamann tended to coordinate the defensive effort. But with Ballack suspended, Jens Jeremies is expected to take over just in front of the defence, allowing Hamann a more positive role.

Hamann, Klose and Oliver Neuville should be capable of causing Brazil some difficulty, although the comment by Völler's assistant, Michael Skibbe, that "the most important thing is not to get caught on the break because that is their strong point and how they score most of their goals", suggests that his side may be particularly cautious.

The problem for Germany, however, is that if they invite the Brazilians onto them in the way they did against Ireland they will surely be undone by the brilliance of their opponents' strikers.

There have been predictable expressions of confidence from both sides, with Kahn expressing his admiration for Brazil's strikers but insisting that "they still have to show they can beat me", while Rivaldo compliments the Germans on having conceded just one goal but adds that "we have scored 16 and are sure that we can add to that number in the final".

It is a little reminiscent of the build-up to the quarter-final in Shizuoka when Eriksson described his side's meeting with Brazil as a clash between the tournament's best defence and best attack. As it turned out the English resistance was not up to the task.

Four years ago, of course, we were all surprised when the sparkle of the Brazilians deserted them in the final and France, with disappointing ease, become champions. Unless something equally dramatic happens this weekend Brazil should make amends.