A heart-breaking loss against Belgium wasn’t enough to deter the Japanese fans from continuing with their post-match cleaning ritual.
In a great display of sportsman spirit, football fans from Japan were seen cleaning the stands at the Rostov Arena after their side were knocked out of the World Cup on Monday.
What makes the act special is the match that preceded it as the Japanese fans had a roller coaster of a night which ended in despair for them. After a dull first half, Japan out of the blue (literally) scored two goals in span of four minutes early in the second half. Genki Haraguchi and Takashi Inui were the destroyer in chief for the Blue Samurais. But their happiness was short-lived. Belgium not only equalised but scored a winner in the last thirty seconds of stoppage time to take Belgium into the quarters.
If the Belgian players showed immense character on field to become the first team in 48 years to win a World Cup knockout match after two-goal deficit, the Japanese fans showed it off-field. Despite a heart-break, they were gracious is loss and committed to their tradition.
Twitter couldn’t get enough of Japan’s latest selfless act.
Not only the fans, the Japanese players also took the act of tidiness up by a notch by cleaning up their locker rooms, something they have done throughout the World Cup, and left a thank you note in Russian for the hospitality of their hosts.
This is not the first time that the fans have done such selfless gesture during the World Cup. After their match against Colombia during the group stage, the Japanese fans were seen cleaning the stadium. In their second match against Senegal, they were joined by the Senegalese fans in their effort to keep the stands tidy. And later Senegal took upon themselves to clean the stadium after their match against Poland.
It is a very common practice of cleaning the stands after a match in Japan which speaks volumes about the country and it’s culture of cleanliness, which inculcated in them over generations. They have done that in previous competitions as well.
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