Crushed

Watching sports has never been one of my preferred passtimes yet I do get quite excited about the soccer World Cup, my favorite sports event! To be honest, this has less to do with the actual games and more with the overall atmosphere and buzz: dancing Brazilians, boozing Englishmen, ass-shaking Nigerians, flag-waving Iranians; it's like a huge global party :-). The Japanese too were overcome by elation on Mondaynight in preparation of their first game, and donned soccer outfits, waved the flag & shouted "Nippon Ganbarre!" over & over. You gotta love the name of their national team as well: Blue Samurais! Unfortunately they didn't live up to this fierce reputation as the Australian Socceroos piled on three goals in the final eight minutes to snatch victory, quite a surprising ass-kicking. Yesterday newspapers expressed great disappointment, echoing the feelings of soccer fans all over the country. Japanese journalists labelled the last-minute defeat "heartbreaking" and Kyodo News reported how Japan's deflated players admitted they were "sickened" after throwing away victory to Australia. Kyodo News added: "Defeat leaves Japan with a seemingly insurmountable task, as they must now take at least four points off Croatia and reigning world champions Brazil in their next two games to stand a realistic chance of advancing to the round of 16." Tough times ahead...