World Cup: Was Japan’s really Fair Play?

France 24: Japan’s football chief has saluted the team for its “fair play” as debate rages over the manner in which the Blue Samurai booked their spot in the last 16 of the World Cup.

Kozo Tashima, president of the Japan Football Association (JFA), insisted the team deserved a place in the knockout stage in Russia, won at the expense of Senegal by virtue of having picked up fewer yellow cards.

However, Japan have faced an angry backlash for running down the clock in the last 15 minutes despite losing 1-0 to Poland on Thursday, gambling that the West Africans would not equalise against Columbia in the other Group H game.

“It is our commitment to fair play that has got us through,” Tashima told local media on Friday after Japan moved on to face Belgium next week.

Those comments rang hollow to many, however, after the Japanese played keep-ball inside their own half under instructions from coach Akira Nishino and were booed off the pitch at the final whistle.

As several foreign television commentators slammed the tactics and referenced the infamous 1982 World Cup match between West Germany and Austria, where both teams played out a mutually beneficial 1-0 win for the Germans, Tashima leapt to Nishino’s defence.

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