They bring me down in every tournament.
But they also surprise me – in almost every tournament.
Sorry Keisuke Honda, but Takuma Asano probably gave me my fondest World Cup memories.
As a half Japanese who grew up in Sweden, there is of course one specific national team that interests me the most – and that is Japan. What aspects of my upbringing contributed to this should be left unanalysed or said, but that is the way it is.
At the same time, there is probably no team that can bring me down like my dear Samurai Blue. Which frustrated me often and often.
Because it is the team that never makes the simple passing decision. The team that mercilessly threw me between improbable hope and empty despair in an open-air restaurant in North Macedonia at the 2018 Summer World Cup. The team that made me cry when they shot themselves dead in a World Cup Round of 16 penalty shootout against Paraguay. The team that still bothers me about Tim Cahill and Australia. The team that always makes the headlines here in Sweden because they cleaned the dressing room instead of winning a football match.
The team that made honorable losses an art form.
A team I had so little faith in in the context of the World Cup that I dared to promise that I would be as blonde as Keisuke Honda if there was ever a World Cup gold on the men’s side.
And despite the fact that it would probably turn orange instead of blonde if you tried, let’s face it.
I did well!
In recent weeks, they were the team that brought the even-handed and tired Takuma Asano to Qatar instead of Celtic’s top scorer, much to my chagrin. Despite the fact that exactly what they lack, and what they have lacked since time immemorial, is the outstanding scorer of the rank. So much so, that there’s actually a newly made anime series that deals with the eternal lack of strikers for the Japanese national team (dubbed Blue Lock, if you were wondering).
For those of you who listened to various WC programs and the like before the tournament, you know what I thought about the decision to bring Asano ahead of Furuhashi to WC. You also know how silly I would have thought you had the guts to set the quarter-finals as a stated goal when simply qualifying for the group stage would have been an achievement in a group with Germany and Spain.
You know how little I believed in that, until this year. Half a game into the opening game, it looked as bad as I expected.
After another half mile, all my doubts were lifted straight into the blue depths of the Sea of Japan.
I’m still mad at Arsene Wenger because I never went back to Japan to take over as captain and I still think this World Cup will also end in disappointment – don’t think otherwise.
But for now, all I can do is do Yuto Nagatomo and scream incoherently “I did well!”
As I have actually done so many times before. Because memories aren’t just depressing.
Can never get a comment from them
On Wednesday, Takuma Asano became my all-time favorite player, as many other forwards from mediocre national teams in Japan’s national team history have become from an early moment of euphoria. The second, from a non-existent angle, etched that 2-1 goal into the roof of the net behind Manuel Neuer, earning him a prestigious place in the Japanese national team’s memory book.
Along with the memory of the AFC quarter-final against Jordan in 2004 when he was still normally shy and quiet, the 12-year-old hopped around Grandpa and Grandma’s living room like a swift ferret.
Coupled with the memory of taking the lead against Brazil themselves in 2006 and I, with the naiveté of a 14-year-old, actually thought we had a chance (spoiler alert: we didn’t).
Along with the memory of my 18-year-old self betting on the aforementioned hair dye when Keisuke Honda kicked a free-kick against Denmark in 2010.
Along with the memory of the most perverted sports bar experience I’ve ever had, one evening in June in downtown Kyoto in 2012.
Actually also in some way juxtaposed with the memory of eating al fresco in Ohrid four years ago.
Because we actually went 2-0 up.
He will be pessimistic again
Even if there was a defeat against Costa Rica, an expected loss to Spain and a break at the time, I will still remember this Japanese team fondly – thanks to the fantastic second half I just witnessed. Thanks to this cannonball, he’s done with the old retired Arsenal talent you’ve seen go crazy on air.
For not even in my wildest imagination could I have predicted that Japan would defeat Germany. in the restroom.
In four years I’ll probably sit back and be very pessimistic about Japan’s chances at the World Cup and pick the Confederation’s team captain again. I’d probably call the previously stated goal naive even then. But I’m sure I’ll also keep new memories, both loved and frustrated.
Who knows, I might even be forced to dye my hair at some point.
At least one thing I know for sure.
I won’t ask you again, Tacoma.
