Japan v Croatia

‘DAIJOUBU! DAIJOUBU!!’ A man wearing a black fedora hat, a bright blue T-shirt with the Superman logo emblazoned across his chest, and a flowing cape made out of a huge Japanese flag, led the chanting in my local bar last night, standing beneath the giant screen especially brought in to watch the World Cup soccer matches. Now this guy has an interesting job. He’s a spy, working to track down and follow the activities of gangs of Russian car thieves (I was reassured that he doesn’t wear this kind of outfit on the job). The chant ‘Daijoubu! Daijoubu!’ means something like, ‘It’s OK, it’s OK! Everything’s gonna be alright!’ I kind of liked it as a cheer – much gentler and more philosophical than ‘We’re number one! We’re gonna kick some arse!’ or something. The game was pretty tense, with neither side managing to get ahead, and at every save by the Japanese goalkeeper, and at every missed shot at the goal, the chanting would begin again: ‘DAIJOUBU! DAIJOUBU!’
In the end, it was a draw 0-0. As the bell rang for full time there was a communal sigh and bowing of heads in disappointment at Japan’s lost chance to get through to the next round, but soon the music was back on, more beer was poured and everything was ‘daijoubu, daijoubu,’ once again. Japan hadn’t played so badly as last time, after all. What’s more, they hadn’t been wearing shirts that looked like someone had cut up a tablecloth from a 1970’s Italian restaurant. I kept expecting someone to come out and place a bottle of cheap Chianti on one of the Croatian players’ chests. In fact, I think I saw someone in the stands balancing one on his gut, in one of the many lingering shots of Croatian supporters’ bare, sunburned chests by the Japanese cameras.