<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nMuch of the post-match punditry centred on Japan\u2019s controversial winner, after the ball was judged by the VAR to have stayed in by a fraction before Kaoru Mitoma crossed it for Ao Tanaka to bundle home, sparking wild celebrations in Doha and Tokyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Daily Sports said Japan had \u201ccome within a millimetre\u201d of exiting the tournament. \u201cLuck was on Japan\u2019s side,\u201d the tabloid said. Tokyo Sports, meanwhile, noted that the team had again become the talk of the tournament, days after their giant-killing 2-1 win against Germany, who failed to get out of their World Cup group stage for the second time in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe foreign media didn\u2019t expect Japan to do well,\u201d the paper said. \u201cBut they are all getting excited now, including the BBC.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The VAR controversy was also the talk of social media, with one account joking that it had spawned a new design for Japan\u2019s national flag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Japanese fans have long been praised for tidying up stadiums around the world, on Thursday there was as much online love for the players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNot sure I\u2019ve ever been more pleased for any side in any sport,\u201d Seth Levine said in a message to the Guardian\u2019s live blog. \u201cLove the way they play. No s**t-housery. No histrionics. Brilliant fans. Excellent tactically. Manager wears a charcoal three-piece suit. What\u2019s not to love?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ben Mabley, who commentates in Japan on Premier League football, had a message for those who doubted Japan\u2019s footballing pedigree. \u201cEver since I came to Japan, I\u2019ve heard people say that Japan doesn\u2019t have much of a football history. I don\u2019t want to hear that ever again!\u201d he tweeted in Japanese. \u201cAn amazing history is unfolding right before your eyes! Congratulations!\u201dQuick Guide<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ken Kawakita, who watched the match at home in Yokohama, said he had almost given up hope after Japan\u2019s poor first half. \u201cSpain looked better in every way, but Japan were a completely different team in the second half,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI realised that football is as much about the players\u2019 mentality as their footballing ability. I couldn\u2019t believe the transformation in the second half. It\u2019s been a week-long rollercoaster ride. We were elated after Germany, then in despair after Costa Rica. Who knows what\u2019s going to happen next? Croatia aren\u2019t as good as they were four years ago, but I\u2019m trying not to get carried away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not even the pre-dawn kick-off could deter fans who braved the cold to watch the match together on giant screens, or set their alarms to follow the game from their futons, knowing that they would have little or no time to snooze before getting ready for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never thought Japan would finish top of their group. Thank you, Japan! I love you guys,\u201d said 19-year-old fan Yusei Sato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Takuya Kudo, 23, burst into tears as soon as the final whistle blew. \u201cI\u2019m just so happy,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, I never thought Japan would do this well. I\u2019m just really thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSamurai Blue\u201d and \u201cCome-from-behind victory\u201d were trending on Twitter, while one user posted a cartoon of a roaring Japanese dragon flanked by those from a lucky Spain, who also qualified from Group E, and clearly bewildered Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka posted a manga-style depiction of the Japanese team, while Elon Musk tweeted: \u201cCongratulations, Japan!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prime minister, Fumio Kishida described the victory as \u201chistoric\u201d, adding that he had called the team\u2019s coach, Hajime Moriyasu, and the president of the Japan Football Association, Kozo Tashima, to offer his congratulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI told them they gave the Japanese people courage and energy,\u201d Kishida said on Twitter. \u201cWe are looking forward to the last 16. Fight on, Japan!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moriyasu, who had been criticised for his tactics in the 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica, thanked Japan\u2019s travelling fans and the many more back home who had got up in the middle of the night to watch his team. \u201cThis victory is a gift for the people of Japan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It turns out that football miracles can strike twice. In quick succession, and in the same place. After their team\u2019s shock defeat to Costa Rica at the weekend, many Japanese fans were bracing for an early exit from the Qatar World Cup at the hands of Spain on Thursday. Instead, the Khalifa International Stadium was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":28125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[2735,13261,8908,7711,7593,4096,8678,8875,4119,5494,9026,5247,7058,66,6980,10954,2959,9326,9453,10454,6220,12791,8126,9833,7259,830,11973,6332,13256,10917,267,3805,3174,8552,7987,8830,5349,4293,5818,5538,7419,1705,5350,10885,10943,12790,10415,36,5248,594,639],"class_list":["post-28124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-bbc","tag-charcoal","tag-coach","tag-cold","tag-controversy","tag-costa-rica","tag-croatia","tag-doha","tag-elon-musk","tag-energy","tag-fans","tag-football","tag-fumio-kishida","tag-germany","tag-gift","tag-international","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-kaoru-mitoma","tag-killing","tag-love","tag-manager","tag-match","tag-meeting","tag-musk","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-one","tag-online","tag-players","tag-poor","tag-premier-league","tag-president","tag-prime-minister","tag-qatar","tag-qatar-2022-fifa-world-cup","tag-samurai-blue","tag-social-media","tag-spain","tag-strike","tag-tennis","tag-the-game","tag-tokyo","tag-twitter","tag-victory","tag-watch","tag-weekend","tag-work","tag-world","tag-world-cup","tag-who","tag-yokohama"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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