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Sports Football World Cup 2022

thomas

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Has anyone watched Japan's first game? Japan beat Germany 2:1! What an exciting match! I was briefly out walking the dog when the Blue Samurai scored the second goal. I could hear all of my neighbours jump up and scream.

Congratulations, Japan


森保ジャパン、ドイツに2-1で勝利 - Yahoo!ニュース

news.yahoo.co.jp

日本2-1でドイツに勝利　後半30分から堂安と浅野のゴールで逆転：朝日新聞デジタル

　サッカーのワールドカップ（W杯）カタール大会は23日、ドーハのハリファ国際競技場で1次リーグE組初戦が行われ、日本代表（世界ランキング24位）は、4度の優勝経験を誇るドイツ代表（同11位）に2―1で…
www.asahi.com
 
Wow. That's two major upsets in the first round, right?
 
A lot of footy experts predicted Japan's victory. The second half was pretty thrilling, with the Blue Samurai displaying more fighting spirit than the hesitant German team. Well-deserved!
 
Kind of a cool story all over Facebook. Normally when the game is finished , everyone runs to the parking lot to beat the vehicle rush. The Japanese fans all bought big trash bags and spent an hour picking up all the trash so no traffic to fight when they left. A great way to show the world Japanese spirit.
 
I have the privilege of not caring about spectator sports, which makes it easier for me to not support FIFA or Qatar's corruption, oppression, and exploitation.

I did see stories about the Japanese fans cleaning up after the games, even if their team wasn't playing. It's pretty much always been like that but the rest of the world acts amazed because they normally just trash the place and leave behind a mess.
 
nice gaijin said:
I have the privilege of not caring about spectator sports, which makes it easier for me to not support FIFA or Qatar's corruption, oppression, and exploitation.
Click to expand...

I know, I know... I have willfully omitted all the negative aspects surrounding this world cup; I will leave this to others or other websites. I was just thrilled to watch a good game and see Japan win. That made my day (night?), even if I cannot think straight this morning.
 
I always felt interest in sports was passed down from family & friends who were into it. My father was only interested in hunting and fishing , so to this day I never watch sports to speak of. Hunting was the only sport I've ever been into and about the time I hit 40 , I lost the interest in killing anything. I feel a bit bad when sports got screwed over by political crap and watching was ruined for many people.
 
Here are a few pieces on the "Miracle of Doha". Many fans are considering taking 2 December off, when Japan will play Spain. The game will start at 4 a.m. JST.

‘Miracle of Doha’: calls for public holiday as Japan’s Samurai Blue put Germany to sword

Victory in World Cup opener sparks street celebrations and banishes painful memories in Doha of failure to qualify for USA 1994
www.theguardian.com


Jubilant scenes on Tokyo, Osaka streets as Japan upsets Germany 2-1 at World Cup - The Mainichi

People in Tokyo's Shibuya and Osaka's Minami entertainment district erupted in celebration on Nov. 23, after Japan overcame a one-goal deficit to stun
mainichi.jp

And a German analysis (in English):

Japan's Bundesliga stars prove Germany's downfall

Eight of Japan's World Cup squad play their club football in Germany, including Wednesday's goalscorers Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano. The win was the latest twist in the intertwined worlds of German and Japanese football.
www.dw.com
 
For the football fans out there: Japan vs Costa Rica has just started. We've already had six fouls nine minutes in (Japan 5, C.R. 1).

Here's some live reporting:

Japan 0-1 Costa Rica: World Cup 2022 – as it happened

Keysher Fuller scores the only goal of the game, against the run of play, to earn Costa Rica a fine win over Japan
www.theguardian.com


​
 
I'm torn on this, and am trying to limit my viewing in this tournament to the team I support - Wales! - who are unlikely to be in it for much longer. Regarding politics, I understand people's distaste for it in sport, but it's a fractured world we live in and it's unrealistic to expect a huge and controversial sports event to exist in a vacuum.
Hosting a World Cup or Olympics itself is a political act, because the decision to bid is made by politicians, and holding an event diverts funding away from other areas. Also, sometimes there's a nefarious purpose for the event, such as the Berlin Olympics of 1936, and governments are generally keen to project their worldview onto such events. The Japanese government kept changing the 'purpose' of the Olympics. Was it to highlight the recovery from the 2011 earthquake or was it to celebrate the world's victory over Covid? As well as 'keep politics out of sport', I would like to see more 'keep sport out of politics'!
 
I understand, it's hard to see something you enjoy get sucked into the muck of power brokering and unbridled capitalism, but I'm afraid it's the fate of any interest successful enough to attract the sharks. There's too much money to be made for it to be a truly wholesome affair, and I'm afraid we're beyond the point where they even attempted to hide the corruption. A global event gives everyone a chance to make their statements, whatever they may be. Even Wales seemed to consider this an important opportunity to stand up and differentiate themselves from England.

We're left with a smorgasbord of issues to discuss, but the dilution of the messages ensures that nothing meaningful will change for anyone, so long as FIFA is allowed to continue unchecked.
 
"Even Wales seemed to consider this an important opportunity to stand up and differentiate themselves from England."

But of course! We've got much nicer fans and also sing better!

Edit: Going back to the comments on the Japanese fans, I've been following some of the debates on Facebook on the World Cup, and Japan is making a lot of friends though the behaviour of its fans and team.
 
Last edited:
Like Lothor, I'm limiting myself to watching the events of just one team - Japan, the country I have made my home. Fortunately, my country's national team did not qualify - as usual. Am I happy about FIFA's choice of venue? No, I am not. Similar concerns were raised before the summer Olympics in Sotchi and the last winter Olympics in Beijing. Do international sports bodies, such as the IOC, FIFA, etc., need reforming? You bet. Should international sports events be decommercialised? I would hope so. I was surprised to discover that even the first modern Olympic Games, the summer Olympics in Athens in 1896, were sponsored. I will have to watch one more game (Japan's last, I'm afraid), then restrict myself to the news, hoping my partial boycott will contribute to FIFA's sublimation.

Lothor said:
We've got much nicer fans and also sing better!
Click to expand...

Are they singing in Welsh? I would love to hear that.
 
Here's a link with fans singing on the Doha subway (in Welsh!), and a beautiful rendition of the Welsh song of defiance Yma o Hyd (We're Still Here).

The Welsh choir lighting up Qatar with rousing World Cup songs

Bronwen Weatherby A Welsh choir has been drawing attention at the World Cup in Qatar by singing the country’s rousing anthem at locations across Doha including on the city’s underground rail network. The Urdd Youth Choir, made up of young men and women from the Vale of Clwyd in North Wales, are...
nation.cymru

Fun fact: In future tournaments Wales will probably be playing under its name in its own language, Cymru, which is another example of names being decoupled from their colonial past (Bombay to Mumbai, etc.)
 
Lothor said:
Here's a link with fans singing on the Doha subway, and a beautiful rendition of the Welsh song of defiance Yma o Hyd (We're Still Here).
Click to expand...

What a fascinating language!
 
thomas said:
What a fascinating language!
Click to expand...
And not an easy one either! I've recently become Secretary of St. David's Society Japan, a Wales-Japan friendship group, and I'm trying to learn the basics of the language.
 
Keep us posted on your progress.

Austria was also a centre of Celtic culture (Hallstatt culture), but no traces of the language have survived. The Romans were too meticulous (n.b. Celtic culture and language disappeared much earlier, of course).

​

And back to the World Cup: the NYT had a piece on Japanese fans going viral for cleaning up after World Cup games. Apparently, fans from other countries are following their example.

Cheer, Chant, Clean: Japan Takes Out the Trash, and Others Get the Hint (Published 2022)

Japanese fans went viral for cleaning up after a World Cup victory. Fans from other countries are following their example.
www.nytimes.com
 
More trash slander against the Japanese team. Images showing a litter-strewn "Japanese dressing room after the Costa Rica match" in this year's World Cup are, in fact, those of the Italian national team after their defeat against North Macedonia in March.

​

Photos don’t show World Cup locker room littered by Japan

False. The photos date back to March, reverse image searches show. A spokesperson for the Italian soccer federation confirmed that the photos show a locker room in Palermo used by Italy’s team.
apnews.com
 
Mainichi on why the Japanese national team are the "Samurai Blue". Well, in fact, no one knows for sure.




Why does Japan's national soccer squad wear blue? Red was adopted once in past - The Mainichi

TOKYO -- Japan's national soccer squad, affectionately called
mainichi.jp
 
My son woke us up to tell us that Japan were ahead. Mrs Lother refused to go downstairs and watch for fear of jinxing the game, so Samurai Japan have Mrs Lothor to thank for their impressive victory over Spain!
 
I think I'm getting too old for nightly World Cup games.

Right now, Japan vs Croatia is on. It's quite an exciting game, both teams are equally matched. It was 1-0 for Japan at half-time, and Croatia equalised ten minutes into the second half. Another 15 minutes to play. Whatever the score, the Japanese team is very strong.


Japan v Croatia: World Cup 2022 last 16 – live

Minute-by-minute report: A quarter-final place is up for grabs in Qatar. Follow the action with Daniel Harris
www.theguardian.com

 
Tears among the Japanese players… in the penalty shootout, they missed three times. I can't believe it. Japan-Croatia 1-3.

Signing off from this World Cup.
 
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