- Thursday, March 06, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
India industrialist Anand Mahindra is known for his interesting takes on social media — either for funny observations or to inspire people. In his latest post, the Mahindra Group’s chairman shared a photograph of Hajime Moriyasu, the manager of the Japan football team that played in this year’s World Cup in Qatar, bowing to the fans in gratitude after his team went down 1-3 to Croatia in penalty shootouts in the pre-quarter finals at the Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah, on Monday (5).
Mahindra was impressed with the gesture of the Japanese football manager and he wrote, “Just two words to describe this: Dignity. Grace. (Team Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu bowing to fans in gratitude).”
Just two words to describe this: Dignity. Grace.
(Team Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu bowing to fans in gratitude) pic.twitter.com/wH2rNMhZ2A— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) December 6, 2022
The image, which the billionaire businessman shared on Tuesday (6) morning, received a huge response (more than 28,000 likes at the time of writing this report) and people appreciated Moriyasu’s attitude towards the fans.
“Very humble attitude,” wrote one user.
“Respect, respect and more respect for this man, his team, his country and their culture of integrity and humility,” said another.
“Japan lost the match due to minor errors. but, they raised the bar of Asia on the football map,” said a third user.
“Japan keeps on impressing with their values,” wrote a fourth.
Japan have won hearts in this World Cup despite their early exit not only with their football skills (they beat big teams such as Germany and Spain) but also their public conduct. While Japan players were found leaving a dressing room in perfect condition after playing and a ‘thank you’ note for the hosts in Arabic, their fans were seen cleaning up venues after games, even when Japan were not involved!
However, the Asian side had a heartbreak in the match against Croatia. Despite taking a lead, the Samurai Blue conceded a goal towards the end and after the game remained 1-1 necessitating a tie-breaker, the European side had the last laugh as they scored thrice as against Japan’s one.
Croatia will play five-time champions Brazil, who routed another Asian side South Korea 4-1, in the quarter finals on Friday (9).
