Salamat, Japan!

By Alex P. Vidal

“When there is a World Cup the world stops, the country stops, everyone is hugging each other, whether old or young, everyone stops just to enjoy the football.”—Hulk

INSTEAD of domo arigato, I chose “salamat” to express gratitude to the mighty Japan, for keeping the hopes and (impossible) dreams of Asians alive in the European-dominated FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Even if they won’t make it in the next round, which is like entering the real lion’s den, Japan has already made history—and made us all Asians proud.

Like millions of Pinoy fans worldwide, I watched “live” on Fox Channel 5 Japan’s amazing upset win over 2010 World Cup champion Spain, 2-1, together with former United States No. 1 soccer player Morris Hocherman on December 1 in Manhattan.

Hocherman, who stands five feet and eight inches like his idol Pele (Edson Arantes do Nascimento), Brazil’s legendary soccer player, had picked Spain to win this year’s World Cup.

“They passed the ball impressively and their moves were synchronized,” sighed Hocherman, who based his opinion after watching Spain steamroll Costa Rica, 7-0, in the Spaniards’ impressive first match in Group E a week ago.

The victory was an open season Spanish massacre courtesy of Dani Olmo 11′; Marco Asensio 21′; Ferran Torres 31′ (P), 54′; Gavi 74′; Carlos Soler 90′; Alvaro Morata 90+2′.

Against Japan, Hocherman thought King Philip II’s descendants would easily dispatch and bid sayonara to the young soccer players from the Land of the Rising Sun.

“No chance, at all. It will be 3-0 (in favor of Spain),” he predicted.

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As Asian, I wanted to defy odds, thus I loudly cheered for Japan even if Spain was leading in the first half, 1-0. “No chance at all” against “give us (Asians) a chance,” I told myself.

Interestingly, I cheered for Spain, our former colonizer, in the streets of Vancouver in 2010 when it wrecked The Netherlands, 2-0, in the championship.

When Japan tied the match, 1-1, Hocherman was jolted. “Oh, I don’t like the way the goalkeeper (Unai Simon) positions himself,” he moaned.

In the blink of an eye, Japan overtook Spain, 2-1.

“This will be a big news; in fact, the tournament’s biggest upset, so far,” I hollered.

Hocherman thought Spain could still sink a goal in the match’s remaining eight minutes. “This is unbelievable,” he groaned. “But it’s a beautiful match.”

“The beautiful match of a beautiful game,” I retorted.

When Japan threatened to score a third goal, I muttered: “2-1 is a big upset; 3-1 will be humiliation.”

For the first time, Hocherman agreed.

Hours earlier in Group F, three teams—Morocco, Belgium and Croatia—had fought for two spots as Canada tried to play spoiler. (Croatia and Morocco advanced.)

Those outcomes came one night after another chaotic ending in Argentina’s group, when second-place Poland watched on the field as Mexico submerged Saudi Arabia but lost out on a place in the knockout stage anyway.

John Branch, reporting for New York Times hours later, stressed, “it will all make more sense in the round of 16 and beyond, when every match sends one team forward and the other home. When the United States plays the Netherlands on Saturday, the team with the most goals wins. (But there might be penalty kicks, a different topic of controversy and confusion.)”

To get there, Japan, Spain, Germany and Costa Rica first had to settle Group E.

Germany eat Costa Rica, 4-2, but lost its hope. The Germans, the 2014 World Cup champions, were stunningly eliminated from the tournament before the round of 16 for the second time in a row.

This time, Branch said, “Germany was undone by its own middling play over three games and the ruthless cruelty of group-stage math.”

Branch described Costa Rica’s lead as “short-lived.”

Germany soon scored to retie the game vs Costa Rica, then scored again to take a lead that it did not give up, 4-2. But even victory would not be enough for the Germans if Spain lost.

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SKELETON IN THE CLOSET. Back in the Dark Ages it was long held by superstition that a doctor could not cut into the body of a dead person, for fear of disturbing its ghost.

As a result, cadavers became hot items on the black market for doctors longing to study human anatomy. When grave robbers began to supply the goods, many a good doctor became suspected of having a skeleton in his closet.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo.—Ed)