Japan rejoices at 'Miracle in Glasgow' win over Spain

Here we go with the nationalists and Japanophile lapdogs going into overdrive after a win against the mighty gaijin. Happens every Olympics/World Cup. I'm sure a few will have to suppress their impulse to invade Manchuria.

I thought Japan were terrifice BUT this is far from a "miracle" or "one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history". It's a surprise, and a pleasant one but let's not get carried away.

A win over Spain is tremendous!

Good start, Japan team.

Keep it up!

I hope Japan keeps its' momentum just like a snowball rolling down a hill.

WOW! Keep on going, keep the momentum and never give up.

I'm sure Spain was just taking it easy knowing it was Japan and PLEASE NOTE this is NOT the team that just won the Eurocup. If had been the whole team that won the Eurocup then you'd see a completely different game where by the score would have been 6 or more to Z-E-R-O for Spain. Come on people Japan's men's team has a snowball's chance in hell of winning against Spain if Spain was actually playing. Now that Japan is all cocky at its win I be more worried at it next game if they think it was easy playing Spain (in the back of their heads not what they say in public).

Yeah, they are doing themselves a disservice by calling it a miracle. Japan has an excellent domestic system that is doing a great job of nurturing and developing talent - they have been building for 20 years, so whilst this is an unexpected result, it's hardly a miracle.

Tamarama - well said. It's actually a bit of an insult to the players to refer to this as a miracle, as if them winning was unimaginable. Same with the women's world cup - the truth is that they were an excellent team before the world cup (around 4th in the world), had a really good olympics 2 years early (finished 4th) so in other words were already among the best teams in the world. The men aren't there yet but this is a promising side with possibilities. The senior side showed that at the last world cup too, where they were a whisker away from the last 8.

The current senior Spain team is amazing, but its due to a freakish combination of 5 or 6 truly exceptional players that only happens once in a while, there's no reason to say that the current crop of under-23 players are on the same level. Prior to Euro 2008, when these players came to the fore, they hadn't won anything since 1964.. so in a sense they were even worse than England back then.

So - if beating a country with one third of Japan's population is a miracle, that's a very low standard for miracles.

Outstanding!!

Banzai!!

Japan played well. Spain played poorly with 10 men for a large part of the game. Japan won. I can't see anything miraculous here. Did the manager turn the half-time water into wine?

And so it begins...

Don't think the reaction is anything of a "nationalistic overdrive" as some suggest here. Japan is only pleasantly surprised and jubilant because they didn't think they would win. The media may be euphoric (or trying to set the tone as such), but the actual fans I suspect are rather keeping their feet on the ground knowing this is only the first game of the tournament (by no means a medal securing victory) and (especially those who actually watched the game) convinced that this is no miracle but a well deserved victory by an unexpectedly pretty good team.

Don't think the reaction is anything of a "nationalistic overdrive" as some suggest here. Japan is only pleasantly surprised and jubilant because they didn't think they would win. The media may be euphoric (or trying to set the tone as such), but the actual fans I suspect are rather keeping their feet on the ground knowing this is only the first game of the tournament (by no means a medal securing victory) and (especially those who actually watched the game) convinced that this is no miracle but a well deserved victory by an unexpectedly pretty good team.

Exactly! Couldn't have put it better myself. They have got off to a good start and no more. Good Luck to them for the rest of the games.

Calling it a 'miracle' kind of cheapens the effort in part, in my opinion, but the win is definitely something to be euphoric about. If the last WC was any example, this kind of win is exactly the thing that will drive the men's soccer team to do better and better, and I hope that's the case. I'm not sure how Morocco and Honduras will fair, but so far it seems that anything goes in the first round, so best of luck to all.

There was zero support for the team before the game, I hate the fact news outlets are trying to make up for it now.

What's all the negative stuff on here for?

Let them have their win!

They deserve encouragement.

Japanese soccer has come a long way!

My God... what is wrong with some people? Can't you just praise the Japanese team for winning? The press reaction would be the same in any country.

Well done Japan!

Japan is very interesting when it comes to these international events. Hyper nationalism after a win, and shrugs of "well we're Japanese and bad at sports" after a loss. I'm glad for the team, but I hope this time the people can hold on to a (toned-down version) of the pride afterwards...

Awesome! Go Japan! It's amazing how good the Japanese football team has gotten over the past decade. Even many Koreans here are acknowledging that Japan is better than Korea now. Korea used to beat Japan all the time, but now it's difficult.

@Thunderbird2

The press reaction would be the same in any country.

But not in Scotland, eh, Thunderbird? Because it'd never happen. ;)

Sir_Edgar: I agree with you. I always favored SK over Japan, but the former seems to be an aging team (not sure about the Olympic team, mind you) whereas Japanese soccer in general is getting a lot of fresh and good blood. I want both teams to do well in the Olympics, as I want all of Asia to pick up its game a little. We'll see what happens. So far SK is at a bit of a disadvantage with a 0-0 draw.

gogogo, I think most in Japan including the media did not expect Japan to win, but that is different from not supporting them. Heck, I was rooting for Japan but I told my wife that the score would probably be 3 to 1 in favor of Spain!

Oh hahaha... there goes yet another rib. You should be on the stage with that comedy act, lucabrasi.

Hyper nationalism after a win, and shrugs of "well we're Japanese and bad at sports" after a loss.

Lol. Yeah, it's patriotism in your country, but "hyper nationalism in Japan."

Look, Japan was the underdog, Spain, the definite favorite. Japan deserves to be happy. Let them.

Come on, people! Let the Japanese fans enjoy the moment!

I have been feeling the euphoria all day. Made a horrible day into a great one.

"Miracle in Glasgow"

It wasn't a miracle for Spanish soccer fans.

"Japan blow away Spain"

What if the score was Japan 6, Spain 0?

"Japan utterly and totally destroys Spain"?

Using the under-23 (plus three overage players) is an excellent format for the Olympics. This makes the teams more even than could be said otherwise. Both teams made many mistakes, but it was the Spanish who made the most ... especially the one that led to the red card.

The Japanese ran the heck out of the Spanish ... and should have scored more goals. They should take better aim in their two remaining round one games ... just to make sure they get enough points to win. Moreover, the Japanese defense was excellent ... and will be tested during the remaining of the tournament. And if they should meet Spain again further down the road ... look out ... that game should be an interesting one ... and a very rough one.

Pandemonium on the streets of Tokyo - I don't think any work was done anywhere in the country today. Surely this Yuki Otsu kid will now be snapped up by Barca or Madrid? The win is not the GREATEST in Olympic history, IMO - I recall the Blue Samurai put Brazil to the sword in Atlanta 96...

Japan will play against my country Morocco on the 29th of this month i found in a dilimma because i prefer both Teams !!!!!!!!!!!

I saw the game and no, it was definitely not a miracle. Japan's performance was solid and outstanding. They deserved to win and they did. Well done, Japan! I have to say, I am impressed by the improvement of this country in soccer/football during the last 10 years. Prior to the world cup of 2002, Japanese team was always the underdog with players that nobody knew abroad. During the last decade though, the improvement of the players is phenomenal. Japan managed to develop a great system of discovering and nurturing new players. Good job guys! I am sure that more accomplishments are to follow.

Japan will play against my country Morocco on the 29th of this month i found in a dilimma because i prefer both Teams !!!!!!!!!!!

An exciting end-to-end 5-5 draw would be your best result then!

“Japan’s men Olympic soccer squad have put in poor performances in recent times. But they fought bravely

thunderbird -- in answer to our question, maybe because any victory by a Japanese team is cause for comments like the above. The country loses all perspective and turns it into this testimony to the country's "greatness" due to this supposed "bravery" and gambatte spirit. Gets tiring. It is just a game, afterall. National greatness and real bravery are not earned on a soccer field. But in a country starved for heroes and a positive national identity for over sixty years, it becomes standard procedure.

Brazil is gonna take it anyways

Nice win. Nitpicking haters can't leave it alone for a second. Sigh.

Maybe Brazil is going to take a beating.

Miracle?? Mi culo! This was no miracle, just that Spain has either a crappy team or the Spanish just underestimated the J team??

Ome de tooi desu.

I think a lot of people are missing the point of those condemning the media for the portrayal of the win. First and foremost, take a look at the headline: "Miracle in Glasgow". Now, that implies a lot of things, but at even the most basic level it implies that Japan was not expected to win, and that is an insult to the talent of the players any way you slice it.

On other levels it functions just as a lot of people have been saying -- the media downplayed the game before it occurred and now it's the only thing on the news and on the lips of people, including those who don't know the first thing about soccer (football) and it's rules, teams, or what have you. People are criticizing the media, and rightly so, more than the team itself, and anyone who is actually criticizing the team doesn't matter because Japan won. Will they win again? who knows, but I'll bet if they lose you'll hear 99% of the voices now chanting Japan's praises silenced, and the media shifting to Judo hopes or other sports. I've been scanning the channels for coverage of the archery events that should now be in progress, but instead there is a news report of London's terrorism of the subway system soon after winning the vote for the Olympic games, reports of how the world sees Japan's win, but not much else.

True, there is no such thing as truly objective media, but the media here can be pretty disgraceful in particular, and I think that's what a lot of people are upset about. I didn't even know the men were playing on the 26th until the morning of the 26th, Japan time, and now that's all you hear about. Hell... you don't even hear about the women's victory any more.

I want Japan to do well -- I even want them to bring home their predicted 15 gold medals, but I also want as much, and as objective, coverage as possible. So far it has not been, and the Olympics have just started. Now, I will finish that by saying that the commentary on at least the women's game was not all that bad (save that every time a Canadian girl knocked down a Japanese it was a 'suraido attakku'! but vice-versa they just kind of talked about how Japan was being aggressive).

yawn wishful thinking. Unbiased sportscasting? C'mon, get real.

@davetrousers: what does the size of population has to do with soccer titles? New York alone has more inhabitants than Uruguay and nonetheless the tiny nation is World Champions twice.

hoserfella: "When they lose; "Ahh, how can we compete with the likes of gaijin who are occasionally 2 meters tall?"

I had to listen to a diatribe today from this old codger on the train about how it's not "judo", it's "Juudo", and that 'foreigners' have corrupted the sport and that's why Japan does not do so as well. He went on to say that the rules have changed so much the sport is not the same, and while he may have a point about rules changing, he was merely pointing this out because Japan did not perform as well in Beijing as they expected to -- not because of any kind of objectivity on his part. He finally went on to say that if Japan wins it will be because of the Japanese spirit of true Juudo, and not the international mess of it, to which there was nothing I could say -- I know this guy, and I've had the same argument in the past with sumo... when I point out that it might just be the other athletes did better he falls back on the, 'ah, you are a foreigner. You can't understand the true juudo/sumou' or what have you.

Point being, you're correct in your statement about the media and the bandwagon fans. I fully and truly feel Japan deserved to win this game and should be euphoric, but I just wish the people who became fans at the news highlights this morning were already fans before, because I know most were not. I also wish the media would go a little further to incorporate ALL events, to the best of their ability. As I said, have yet to see the archery events going on at present. A bit of bias is to be expected, but sometimes the media can be ridiculous, calling what happened a miracle in one breath and their nation gods in the next. Gods aren't given miracles, they grant them, and likewise the media are handed good news, they shouldn't pretend to be the gods.

Bottom line is that people who take an attack on the medias tack of this as an attack on the team and its performance are simply being emotional and are misdirected. The Japanese team did nothing wrong -- in fact, they did EVERYTHING right, and the fruits of their labours prove that. But I dare anyone who questions the media response to show me the article leading up to the game. I saw next to nothing, and smelled nothing but fear when I did -- never saw a 'do your best', or ' we have faith in you' from the bandwagon fans that all rolled out this morning, that's for sure.

And the media? Again, still just scanned the channels for coverage of current events, and nope: nothing. Although they are now showing a lot of Japanese successes in past Olympics as we hit the four hour and a half mark to the opening ceremony -- oh wait, they've now switched to replays of the Japan/Spain game.

The current replays, I might add, show ZERO of Spain's attempts to score and ONLY Japan's.

Look, before I start to sound more negative I'm going to leave this thread save for a direct response. I am proud of Japan's accomplishment, I am just extremely critical of how the media is treating it while keeping in mind this is a WORLD event. The Japanese media has a LOT to learn before it can ever be respected.

What an irrelevant win. Olympic football is nowhere near as prestigious or serious as the world cup. Its basically U-23 amateur football. This match doesn't mean anything either, the win only determines seeding to the next round. Pathetic how Japan celebrates over nothing.

When you have teams like Belarus, UAE, New Zealand, Egypt, Morocco and Gabon whos national senior team can't even make it into the world cup yet make it into the Olympics final 16 says it all.

Point is final score was 1 to nothing. Heck, Spain lost only by one goal and Japanese people are making a big deal of it. Spain had one less player for the most of the game. Alot of people are saying it Japan should've won by 3 to 0 or 4 to 0 or 5 to 0. Should've or would've is typical of how Japan with no confidence thinks. Sometimes everything goes your way. I know that Spain was not properly prepared and probably took the game too lightly. I like to see a rematch when Spain is fully prepared and see what Japan can do. Then you can measure how good Japan is. First game doesn't mean much. This was a fluke game and nobody in the international community takes it seriously.

@smithinjapan

Why so negative? Japan was playing a good game and to win over Spain would be an incredible miracle for the USA too, unfortunately, the americans can not play football

vg866, venting your frustrations because korea could only manage a draw against Mexico, a team Japan just beat? Show some class, man. By the way, trying telling Mata to his face that he's an amateur.

What does Glasgow have to do with the Olympics in London? I looked it up and it was some obscure reference to Glasgow producing so many artists (why that itself was a miracle i am unsure). Or is this a common sports term? Sorry, I wouldn't know an Olympic sport from an Olympic supermarket, but just wondering.

Your mistaken bicultural, read my comments again.

I could care less if Korea wins the whole thing or even failed to qualify because its irrelevant amateur football. Japan celebrating like infants over something so pointless is what baffles me.

Also. confused. My wifge was pissed because she thought the Olympics already started, but then she woke up and found it was at 5 AM. That means that this news about Japan and Spain is NOT about the Olympics?

Ah, I see. The game actually WAS In Scotland. That wasn't clear. But it wasn't the Oympics, then. Or was it?

The game against Brazil was a miracle as Brazil kept pushing Japan throughout the match, but this match against Spain Japan was the better team and this was a well deserved victory. No miracle. Just hard work. It heartens me to see how far Japan has come in football 20 years after J League was born. Good work Japan.

You call it amateur football. Then why are the players playing professional football in European leagues? Messi was named the best player in the world when he was 21, but I guess he wasn't truly playing at a "professional" level until he was over 23 years old.

smithinjapan - "I think a lot of people are missing the point of those condemning the media for the portrayal of the win. First and foremost, take a look at the headline: "Miracle in Glasgow". Now, that implies a lot of things, but at even the most basic level it implies that Japan was not expected to win, and that is an insult to the talent of the players any way you slice it. On other levels it functions just as a lot of people have been saying -- the media downplayed the game before it occurred and now it's the only thing on the news and on the lips of people, including those who don't know the first thing about soccer (football) and it's rules, teams, or what have you. People are criticizing the media, and rightly so, more than the team itself, and anyone who is actually criticizing the team doesn't matter because Japan won. Will they win again? who knows, but I'll bet if they lose you'll hear 99% of the voices now chanting Japan's praises silenced, and the media shifting to Judo hopes or other sports. I've been scanning the channels for coverage of the archery events that should now be in progress, but instead there is a news report of London's terrorism of the subway system soon after winning the vote for the Olympic games, reports of how the world sees Japan's win, but not much else."

The Japanese media just can't win, can they? For years, you've complained about how Japan's media over-hypes its athletes, and how in your mind, they show a sense of entitlement in winning (which is completely untrue). Now they call this win a miracle because the Japanese media showing how much they respect Spain as a footballing nation, and now you're saying that the media should've done more to hype the team? And how exactly was this game "downplayed" beforehand? You also complain of them not having any coverage of archery, but none of the other events have even begun yet. Yet somehow, Japan's media is at fault for this?