Japan has been always known for their discipline. Even the common habit of removing one’s footwear before entering a building or a house was introduced by them. The country’s football team and its fans who came to participate at the World Cup were no different.
Players resorting to unethical actions on the pitch to provoke the opponents or to get a decision in their favour from the referee has become an ordinary spectacle in modern football. There are even teams who use it as a strategy to tempt their opponents. But Japan made sure that they don’t forget their own values even in their darkest hours.
Even though they lunge into tackles or gather around the officials to let them know about their unhappiness on any particular decision, the Blue Samurais do not cross a certain limit. Cheap shots and such unscrupulous acts are not present in their book of tricks.
And we cannot not talk about the team’s supporters, who always stood back after games to clean up the area they were occupying. Even when their heroes faced an excruciating defeat in the final minute of the match against Belgium, they made sure that they didn’t leave anything behind that would tarnish the values held by them.