The 2022 World Cup has been pretty intense as of late. Hajime Moriyasu, the Japan manager has bowed in front of the country’s fans to show appreciation to those that travelled miles to support the team.
This year’s World Cup is similar to the previous ones as they all helped fans rejoice and get together. The Japanese team has received support both on and off the field. They were the centre of attention throughout this World Cup.
There were videos of Japanese fans cleaning the stadium after a game or victories over giants Germany and Spain. The same cannot be said for the fans from other countries as they would never do anything like that, especially in a foreign country.
The rise and fall of Moriyasu’s team garnered interesting reactions throughout the internet. Japan’s team was eliminated from the World Cup after losing 3-1 on penalties to Croatia in the 16th round. They managed to score against Croatia once and Dominik Livakovic made some saves to help his team win.
Reactions towards Hajime Moriyasu’s bow
Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu bowed in appreciation to the fans who traveled all the way to Qatar to support their team 🇯🇵
Respect! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zokP53cCoC
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 5, 2022
ESPN tweeted about the whole ordeal and fans were touched at a manager such as Moriyasu bowing to his team’s fans. This is one of the most humbling displays in this year’s World Cup where most managers would never do that.
https://twitter.com/colmmcg264/status/1599843117087469568?s=20&t=0FZlb0gokauDbmw1CPpC7A
A fan commented that Japan is the most disciplined country in the whole world. They are definitely not wrong though. There were jokes on this as the user that commented this was a German and replied to his comment as “I can see why you allied with them.”
That comment should be referred to the second World War where Germany and Japan allied with each other against the United States and United Kingdom. The respect was given to Moriyasu as he has never complained once about a referee’s decision.
Football fans recognized that Japan beating Germany and Spain would not have been easy as these countries are quite solid when it comes to football. Fans are adamant that Japan still deserved to win as they claim Japan did not deserve penalty kicks against them.
Regardless of what is said, it is still a commendable approach that Moriyasu did as it shows how humble the Japanese people are. They should be taken as a good example on how to lose a match with dignity and to be a proper guest at another man’s homeland.
Here are more stories related to the FIFA World Cup.