Japan’s fairytale world cup finally ended. Even though they managed to defeat the likes of Germany and Spain, they ended up losing to last year’s runners-up Croatia.
This year’s campaign will be memorable for all Japanese football fans. I didn’t follow Japanese football much until I moved to Japan in 2015. I remember the 2018 World Cup. I was watching the game against Belgium at this local cafe. Japan was almost on the verge of winning against Belgium but then they lost it.
This year things were better. Japan did a better job of holding onto the lead in games. They were great at coming back from difficult situations. They should have won this game against Croatia. They did everything right. They scored first. Defended well. But ended up conceding an easy goal. That goal lead the game into penalties.
Penalties are never easy. As fans, it’s easy to say that they should have done better. But the reality is far more difficult. Yes, the penalties by the Japanese players were below par. But you can’t blame them. It’s not easy taking a penalty in the biggest stage.
Luck wasn’t on Japan’s side. But they can be proud of their campaign. The manager Moriyasu did an amazing job in reading the game and the opponents. They leave us with great memories from this campaign.