Japan women's basketball head coach Tom Hovasse has dreamt for years his team could make a historic run to the Tokyo Olympics gold medal game and an epic showdown with his native United States.
On Friday night, his scrappy, undersized, unfancied squad made it a reality.
"Years ago, I said my goal, my dream, was to play America in the gold medal game of the Olympics and we were going to win. That was my dream, my goal, my motivation," he said in the wake of Japan's 87-71 semifinal win over France at Saitama Super Arena.
It was a win that guaranteed Japan its first Olympic basketball medal.
Hovasse has long preached his mantra of doing it the Japanese way. He regularly talks about making the most of his team's unique strengths, while papering over the size and athleticism cracks.
Deep three-point shooting, heady passing and team-focused offense are his team's strengths when they have the ball, a scrambling, high-octane, trapping, communicative defense is the formula when they do not.
But the key to bringing it all together, Hovasse says, is belief.
"In terms of the word believe, I believe in the word believe," he said at the post-game press conference.
"If the players do not believe in what their coach says, then we won't be able to do anything. I really believe in the word believe."
But the question for the host nation now is whether belief can carry the day against an American team looking to win a seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal.
The United States has averaged 83.6 points per game in Tokyo while allowing the rest of the world to average just 67.4.
Three of the tournament's top five scorers -- A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Britney Griner -- are American, and Japan cannot boast a similar scoring punch.
What Japan does have, though, is a maestro point guard who has run rings around the Olympic tournament so far.
Rui Machida on Friday set a record for most assists by a woman in a single Olympic game with 18. She conducted a Japanese orchestra that left the French team out of tune.
She is tiny in a game of giants, but her incredible ball handling and elite pick and roll passing has had opponents grasping at air.
The Fujitsu Red Wave player's performances have made her the talk of the women's basketball world, and surely could make her a target for overseas clubs post-Olympics.
"I am so happy for Rui," Hovasse said. "She has always been in the background, she is such a shy person, humble beyond belief, so for her to get this kind of recognition is beautiful."
As if to prove her coach right, Machida immediately deflected the praise.
"My goal is the gold medal so I will be doing the best within the team so we can collectively win," the 28-year-old said.
And when asked what the assist record means to her, typically, she passed on the praise.
"I am very, very happy about it and I want to thank everyone in the team for it," she said.
