Stay classy, Samurai Blue fans 👏👏
Japan’s national team have already produced the goods. So too their fans.
After the Blue Samurai’s incredible 2-1 win over Germany, Japanese fans held their post-game composure and lived up to a classy act that’s become somewhat of a tradition.
They left their sections of Khalifa International Stadium in as good a condition as what they found it.
Despite the fact it should be a basic and accepted responsibility to clean up after yourself – whether in the office or at a sporting event, in today’s world of widespread entitlement, this decency is not the norm.
Two extremely successful teams of the last decade, the All Blacks and Hawthorn Hawks, became well known for acting with humility and cleaning change rooms after games. It’s undoubtedly a microcosm of what can make good teams, or fan bases, well… great.
And the Japan fans’ class is rubbing off on a national team that continues to go from strength to strength. While in many ways Asian rival Australia has seemingly gone backwards over the last few World Cup cycles, the Samurai Blue is pointing up.
Japan’s 2-0 win over the Socceroos all but ended its chances of direct qualification to Qatar. And the match just wasn’t close; it could’ve been more than two goals.
The nation’s form has continued to the big stage, while the Aussies were comfortably out-classed by France 4-1.
Japan’s historic win over Germany gives them a seemingly unlikely opportunity to progress out of a group that also contains a red hot Spain side coming off a 7-0 win over Costa Rica.
It comes, of course, just one day after the bombshell upset of Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia; also 2-1.
In what’s been a World Cup full of lies, controversy and corruption, you just love to see how Japan’s going about it.
