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Japan’s defender Maya Yoshida (R) vies for the ball with Saudi’s midfielder Sami al-Najei throughout the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian Qualifier on the King Abdullah Sport Metropolis Stadium in Jeddah, on October 7, 2021. (Picture by – / AFP)
Maya Yoshida confronted Saudi Arabia followers and later accused them of creating “discriminatory gestures” after defeat left Japan in peril of lacking the World Cup for the primary time since 1994.
Japan’s captain had offended phrases with a bit of the house followers after the qualifying defeat in Jeddah on Thursday, after they had been seen taunting him throughout a post-match interview.
Cell phone footage confirmed the Sampdoria defender marching in direction of the fence separating the supporters from the pitch, jabbing his finger and remonstrating with them.
サウジアラビアサポーターのリスペクトがなさすぎる。吉田麻也がこんなに怒ることってあるんですね。 pic.twitter.com/6nfkSlLrYL
— ディエゴ＠ (@tickets_jpc) October 7, 2021
He then strode off after being restrained by Japanese officers, however later returned to clarify his response to reporters.
“There have been discriminatory gestures,” the 33-year-old was quoted as saying by Japanese media, with out increasing on what the gestures had been.
“It’s tough to simply accept. It occurred within the final qualifiers as properly. It’s very disappointing.”
The outcome left Japan with simply three factors from three video games in Group B, having began the marketing campaign with a shock dwelling loss to Oman and a slender away win over China.
The four-time Asian champions, who’ve appeared on the previous six World Cups, now face a must-win dwelling conflict with high-flying Australia on Tuesday.
Followers took to social media to name for supervisor Hajime Moriyasu to be fired, and newspaper columnists had been additionally scathing of their verdict, with Japan’s hopes of reaching the Qatar 2022 World Cup in peril.
“Earlier than the match, Moriyasu mentioned it was an away recreation and he additionally talked about the local weather and the jetlag,” commentator Sergio Echigo wrote within the Nikkan Sports activities every day.
“I can solely assume that he was getting his excuses in early for dropping.”
Echigo identified that Japan had solely scored one aim in three video games, and followers on social media had been additionally unimpressed.
One demanded “give me my sleep again” after getting up at 2:00 am to look at the sport.
One other wrote: “I used to look ahead to watching Japan video games, but when it’s going to be like this each time, I’m dropping the will to look at them. It’s boring.”
Nikkan Sports activities reported that the nationality of midfielder Gaku Shibasaki, whose errant backpass let in Saudi Arabia for the profitable aim, was briefly modified from Japanese to Saudi on his Wikipedia web page.
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