Japan Steal World Cup Hearts With Spotless Locker Room, Thank You Letter After Elimination
Japan may have bowed out of the FIFA World Cup, but fans and players of other teams will be remembering them long after for the remarkable way the Samurai Blue carried itself through the course of their bid for this year's title in Russia.
The only sign that they were even there in that locker room was a simple message of thanks for the hosts that spoke volumes about the standards that the Japanese team held themselves. It was all despite a crushing loss to Belgium, brought about by a last-minute comeback that came down to the final kick.
"We started off very well, but at the end, right at the end, to have conceded a goal like that, it was not expected," Japan head coach Akira Nishino Nishino told reporters.
"We were leading and we were going to win, but I didn't expect this reversal of the result. It was the World Cup, and we were faced with the depth and the strength of Belgium. That's how I felt at the end of the game," he added.
This now makes the third time Japan has failed to make the last eight in the World Cup, as the Telegraph pointed out, and the loss to Belgium stung. Japan's players were on their knees or on the ground weeping after the final whistle.
It would not take long for the team to collect itself, though, and one of the first things they did was to bow to their fans, as a sign of gratitude for their support. The next was to take their time cleaning up their locker room, restoring it to a pristine state as the day it was first handed over to them to use.
The last was captured in a photo that went viral on social media, of a spotless dressing room with a message to the Russian hosts saying "Spasibo," or Thank you.
"Amazing from Japan. This is how they left the changing room after losing v Belgium: cleaned it all," Tancredi Palmeri, who shared the photo, marveled at the sight.
