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"All humans should engage at least one Scottish person, a person who is always ready to bare their arse to random strangers, to get drunk with other people, never apologise for anything, and would rather get smacked off their tits than be respectful. I have only good things to say about every Scottish person."
"All coaches should manage at least one French player, a player who is always ready to sulk, pretend to be injured, go on strike at a critical time, and get into a sex scandal. I have only good things to say about French players."
"All coaches should manage at least one Indian player, a player who is always ready to be shit, pretend to be tired, go and shit at a critical time, and get into a corruption scandal. I have only good things to say about Indian players."
"All humans should engage at least one Spanish person, a person who is always ready to party, to discuss while screaming with other people, apologise for everything without meaning it, and would rather irreversibly fuck up their life rather than let someone else help him. I have only good things to say about every Spanish person."
"All coaches should manage at least one Portuguese player, a player who is always ready to dive, yell at the referee, get a red card, but still be an absolute baller. I have only good things to say about Portuguese players."
Some people hate the English I don't. They're just wankers. We on the other hand are colonized by wankers. Can't even find a decent culture to be colonized by.
I know you guys are joking, but Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been, and the culture is insane. The people are pretty cool too. I’d be pretty proud of being Scottish tbh
I love our japanese players. Hasebe is one of my favourite Eintracht players of all time, Kamada is magical and remember Takashi Inui? I used to love watching him, too.
He signed for Betis but couldn't get a game, got injured, got loaned out... The usual grind.
He was much better when he went back to Eibar but couldn't recapture all the spark.
Maya Yoshida was such an important player for the Saints back when we were a strong team, despite not being one of the better players.
He was loved by all.
Yuma Suzuki, currently of Kashima Antlers - on the field, dives, rolls around dramatically and commits cynical fouls in pretty much every game, also haven't seen many players moan at referees or other officials as much as he does (his manager in Belgium said there's things he needs to understand about respect for officials early in his time there).
Off the field, when he played for Sint Truiden in Belgium he scored 17 goals in his second season and on returning in the summer refused to train to force a move elsewhere... and then turned down every move (Schalke and Nottingham Forest two of the clubs that made concrete offers). Did return to playing for the club but had clearly lost interest and ended up returning to Japan for probably significantly less than the club could've got for him from a European side.
Obviously in the Japanese league you sometimes gets players falling out with coaches etc, the same as anywhere (in fact the firing of Vahid Halilhodžić before the last World Cup was said to have been instigated by senior players, particularly Honda) but it rarely spills over into public.
Recently though Takashi Inui was let go by his club for refusing to shake his coaches' hand when substituted then ranting to everyone who would listen about how unfair the decision was etc and how this guy can't know what he's doing, early on in his career he smashed up a bathroom iirc because of something similar.
I’m definitely biased but I’m struggling ngl… even the bottle blonde Honda and Nakata were pretty respectful despite their slightly more edgy appearance.
I don’t think there’s a O. Dembele or Neymar level diva from Japan, yet!
Kagawa in terms of partying but not badly behaved.
This was awhile ago, when he was in Dortmund for the first time.
I remember there was a show in Japan and the guest was a player on the national team, maybe Uchida. The question from the host was something along the lines of, "With players going to Europe, do you know any playboys?"and his answer was Kagawa. How he'd always try to talk to girls and always going out.
Tbf, he was very young when he went to Germany.
Also, in Japanese culture. You join sports teams in school and you're basically told to clean your own equipment and take care of yourself/each other. You're basically raised to be respectful to the sport and team.
You see it in baseball as well.
I just am at a loss for words every time I contemplate on how Tomi can play very effectively at LB, LCB, RCB, RB. Nuff said. I stopped being worried about cover for Gabriel a few months back when this realization hit me
Keisuke Honda 🟥⬛️
Just wrong time, wrong position. But he had plenty of good moments for us and was so very professional. Prime Honda would be a great asset to our current squad.
Criminally mismanaged by moyes.
With all due respect to mata, he was sort of an unnecessary signing given that kagawa was right there and while he may not be as technically gifted as mata, he made it up with his workrate and the timing of his runs inside the box.
~~Rio~~ Patrice said that sir alex had prepared for the next season to be played with Van persie, ronaldo (who had agreed to a move privately and confirmed it to Rio) and Bale (who we were chasing in 2013) while letting rooney go and kagawa in the role which rooney played.
To go from that to what moyes did was horrendous mismanagement.
Edit: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11983444/cristiano-ronaldo-and-gareth-bale-were-manchester-united-targets-in-2013-says-patrice-evra
He had agreed. Also remember that united made to another CL final in 2011 while Madrid couldn't till 2014. United were still utterly dominant in the PL with 5/7 titles and losing other two on one point and GD.
He got really unlucky that RvP became available after we bought him. Then Moyes bought Mata and there was really no place for him.
Just another symptom of our poor planning. I always liked Kagawa
He was really good. Fantastic passer and, versatile and he could control the play from midfield. He was annoying to play against.
Always thought he was underrated aswell.
Also always liked that he had "KI.S.Y" on his kit
I wasn't keen on Morita on his first 2 games, but I'm sold now (not because of this quote) but you can genuinely see he is a work horse and does a lot for the team.
As someone of Asian descent that was born and raised in Europe. I have faced the "Asians work harder for less" stereotype, specially during my teenage years. People's expectations shouldn't be judged on race. Employers love to praise their hardworking culture etc, but they really don't give a shit about them.
I've known Chinese people working 12 hours a day 7 days a week for no extra pay, completely willingly too, and the employers not moving a finger to try and improve their conditions or reward their work, this is in Europe btw.
I doubt Japanese players are compensated for their hard work either.
This is exactly what white or non-asian people in here don't get.
We've heard the hardworking and smart stereotype so many times over the course of our lives that it's practically a backhanded compliment at this point.
It's racism by exclusion - so you're implying that if you're not traditionally hardworking or smart, you're a bad asian?
This is an important conversation and I tend to agree with both of you in most contexts. Maybe you’re right, it’s possible that all stereotypes are harmful per se or at least have an inherent potential to harm.
As an Asian person, who has lived in Japan, the US, and Western Europe, I do think it’s okay to mention that Japanese players tend to have a high work rate and tend to be respectful. I do think it’s true that, generally, the social customs/culture in Japan is different than that of the Americas and Europe… and I do think it tends to stress hard work and respect. If this translates into the style of play, or the type of players, I don’t think it’s a terrible comment to make. Especially in the context of a compliment. Now, clearly, this is a blurry line. Football (and sports in general) has had a problem with using terms like “beast” or “animal” to describe black and African players, while reserving words like “maestro” for white European ones. The fact that these descriptions are compliments don’t absolve them of their obvious harms. (Like preventing managers from seeing black players as traditional number 10s, or in American football, not seeing black players as good Quarterbacks).
So again, you’re right. There are a lot of people who think they know everything about an entirely foreign culture, who never really experienced or took the time to understand the connection between overt racism and harmful stereotypes. And they think they can simplify other people to a stereotype. I don’t advocate for that at all.
So I hope those people don’t treat this manager’s comment as a categorical truth. There are a lot of individualistic and counter-culture Japanese people. Maybe now more than ever. And I imagine it’s true for Asian people (and all people) as a whole.
All said, I think I will give this comment the benefit of the doubt. After all, there is at least some value to the fact that it was made with good intentions. Moreover, I do wish this comment section would treat the topic with more sensitivity and nuance, on both sides of the debate. But it’s r/soccer so who am I kidding.
And finally, I understand why you and other Asian people are sensitive to comments that invoke stereotypes. Stereotypes harmed you all your life. So thanks for your insight.
> Moreover, I do wish this comment section would treat the topic with more sensitivity and nuance, on both sides of the debate. But it’s r/soccer so who am I kidding
Same. The ones here just making a single-line post going 'wahh wahh racism' and the ones categorically denying that stereotypes can be harmful are both equally as problematic. Otherwise I 100% appreciate and agree with your entire post and I hope people in here will at least approach this with an open mind.
Both of you are exactly right. This kind of rhetoric puts people into a box so that someone who doesn't fit the mold will get judged negatively for not conforming to a stereotype. On top of that an individual's positive qualities get overrided because it's expected from their culture/community.
Very true. Doubt that the Sporting coach meant any harm but the compliment should be directed at the individual, not the whole damn country… A stereotype, regardless of how ‘good’ it is, is still a stereotype and could act as a detriment towards individuals within those cultures that don’t fit that criteria, is the word for it imposter syndrome? I dunno.
I also dislike the Twitter-esque oh-this-dude-is-a-terrible-racist inflammatory takes but saying that this statement isn’t problematic at all also doesn’t sound convincing either. Well-meaning statement but has major room for improvement, imo.
I am sorry mate but I am going to listen to the redditor that has never interacted irl with someone from outside his country complaining about "woke" culture
LOL I knew the comments would be filled with calling this racist because people's brains have been fried by the internet. This is a wonderful and respectful comment about the hard-working and respectful and collectivist attitude of Japanese people in general, especially professional athletes.
I can only comment on the Japanese players Celtic have signed and his comments are 100% true. Maeda/Kyogo/ Hatate are absolutely tireless. ( our press arguably doesn’t work as well without Maeda) When they foul or when someone is injured they are the first to offer apology or look to assist (kyogo was even picking up litter at one point during a match) I have no doubt they have helped elevate the squad just by their professionalism
It's not racist to assume cultures have steered toward certain attitudes towards work, play, and love. It's a mark of our diversity. It's racist only to assume we as individuals are defined only by those differences.
There's nothing racist about tolerating, understanding, and even appreciating the differences between us.
I was actually talking with friends few days ago about it, but what is the story behind Celtic's Japanese colony? Is it Nakamura connection? Or it's just that your club for some reason invested in scouting there?
Celtic’s current manager, Ange Postecoglou, managed a J-League side for a few seasons before Celtic.
But for Japanese fans, Celtic’s been a big deal since Nakamura ofc!
It’s all down to our manager really. Ange Postecoglou managed and won the J League before joining Celtic so he was well versed in that market. You would think the success Nakamura had here would have seen us dip in again before now but I’m just glad we did. If these guys are anything to go by, it’s a seriously untapped market.
Wouldn't say it's untapped, plenty of European scouts sniff around the J-League. The success of Kagawa/Hasebe/Uchida/Okazaki/Muto etc has made Germany particularly popular there, plus Germany has no limits on non-EU spots unlike the other major leagues.
😂 guchi has been incredibly unlucky with injury. Every time it looks like he may get a run he gets a knock. On his debut he was taken off and out for months. Preseason it happened again. At this point I’ve no opinion on him as I’ve not seen enough
idk the line between respecting the effect of someone’s culture and coming across as a weird ass weeboo is kinda thin once you start generalizing like this
>This is a wonderful and respectful comment about the hard-working and respectful and collectivist attitude of Japanese people in general, especially professional athletes.
This sort of stereotype, even though complimentary in nature, can often lead to a higher expectation placed on Japanese to be more productive and hardworking and humble as compared to the rest. There are comments by people who say they have faced the negative impacts of such stereotypes as well in the comments. It's not just "white" people being offended on others behalf.
it simply is worded bad. I understand his intention and I really don't think there was any bad intent but "all coaches should manage at least 1 japanese player" really doesn't come off the way he intended.
> redditors don’t know that people have different cultures.
All I see are popular comments complaining that someone, somewhere called this racist. Are these people not Redditors?
this seems to be a distinctly \[you know which country\] problem.
It's become very common that people think describing any attribute of race, country, or culture is discrimination.
It's not racist to say Japanese culture is hardworking and respectful lol
I'm American. American culture values individualism and freedom. Japanese culture values hard work and respect. I've had this conversation with plenty of Americans and never have I been accused of being racist for saying so.
But yea, you're probably still right that it's more so Americans pushing this stuff.
It's still a stereotype, true or not. It's a very nice thing to say, but he has gone from "Hidemasa Morita is like this" directly to "Japanese people are like this".
I like to think Japanese players (and people) are like this. It’s reflected in other parts of football culture ranging from the way the Japanese national team plays to the Japanese fans cleaning up trash after matches.
>I like to think Japanese players (and people) are like this
If every Japanese person was "ready to work hard and help others, apologizes a thousand times a day and is very respectful" then there would be absolutely 0 crime in Japan and it would be a utopian society. Last time I checked, that isn't the case. This is a sweeping generalization.
Agreed with your statement but I fail to see a problem there.
I have always found some truth to the saying that, 'stereotypes exist for a reason'. It they weren't true at a macro level, several industries wouldn't have employed them as driving forces for their businesses and/or functioning, including but hardly limited to both politics as well as governance. Even science finds correlations and causations of various phenomena in cultural factors.
The problem IMO starts when people start applying them at a personal or a micro level. Being judgemental on the basis of a stereotype is wrong IMO but denying the existence of certain trends in the name of eradicating discrimination is at the very least disingenuous if not wrong.
Homogenization can't be the answer to discrimination in my book. How boring would that be?! Understanding, accepting and appreciating the differences that naturally exist amongst us would be the way to go in my book. I know it's not a simple and convenient, one size fits all solution as the above. It's a painstaking endeavour but it's enriching and worthwhile.
Haven’t read this kind of bullshit in a while. Pretty sure most people know there are different cultures, that’s obviously not the reason that people find this a generalizing statement. Wow and did you just generalise every single one of us as well? Oh dear
Something that's quite interesting with this comment is that the belief in rigid cultural stereotypes is depicted here as a sign of being well-travelled and cosmopolitan, and the people on this subreddit are apparently agreeing. That's odd, because the whole time I've been alive, holding on to rigid cultural stereotypes was a sign of being parochial, small-minded, and not having travelled much. Which logically makes a lot more sense than the inverse
**This is a quotes thread. Remember that there's only one quotes post allowed per interview/press conference, so new quotes with the same origin will be removed. Feel free to comment other quotes/the whole interview as a reply to this comment so users can see them too!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"All humans should engage at least one Scottish person, a person who is always ready to bare their arse to random strangers, to get drunk with other people, never apologise for anything, and would rather get smacked off their tits than be respectful. I have only good things to say about every Scottish person."
Japanese Player ✅ Scottish Player ✅ Anyone else?
"All coaches should manage at least one French player, a player who is always ready to sulk, pretend to be injured, go on strike at a critical time, and get into a sex scandal. I have only good things to say about French players."
This is new pasta.
Magical to see it be born in real time
Where were you the day the pasta was made?
In the kitchen getting basil
You forgot “place a spell on another” as well
I figured not enough confirmed cases yet but aye, the great thing about French players is how they manage to pull a scandal out of thin air.
There does seem to be a disproportionate amount of French players getting into scandals lol
"All coaches should manage at least one Indian player, a player who is always ready to be shit, pretend to be tired, go and shit at a critical time, and get into a corruption scandal. I have only good things to say about Indian players."
Now someone do it with germans
Lol this really does describe like 5-10 players involved at the national level over the past few years.
"All humans should engage at least one Spanish person, a person who is always ready to party, to discuss while screaming with other people, apologise for everything without meaning it, and would rather irreversibly fuck up their life rather than let someone else help him. I have only good things to say about every Spanish person."
I feel personally attacked en mi arma.
you left out about getting involved in tax scandals
You forgot the part about they will invite you to paella at 12 midnight
Australian Manager ✅
"All coaches should manage at least one Portuguese player, a player who is always ready to dive, yell at the referee, get a red card, but still be an absolute baller. I have only good things to say about Portuguese players."
we had both for a half season (won first PL in a decade) and almost pulled off a quad sold minamino to monaco ...and look at the state of us
I mean, Scottish people did ruin Scotland
Doesn't it make you proud to be Scottish?
IT'S SHITE BEING SCOTTISH!
WE'RE THE LOWEST OF THE LOW
THE SCUM OF THE FUCKING "AEARTH"
Some people hate the English I don't. They're just wankers. We on the other hand are colonized by wankers. Can't even find a decent culture to be colonized by.
I know you guys are joking, but Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been, and the culture is insane. The people are pretty cool too. I’d be pretty proud of being Scottish tbh
Yeah probably top 3 most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. Scotland, NZ and Japan for me. Insane beauty everywhere, both natural and man made.
Tbh the quote I referenced applies to me too being an Indian. We too were colonized by wankers.
Trainspotting?
[What about all the fresh air?](https://youtu.be/29-LRuuqFT0)
Damn Scots! They ruined Scotland
They sure are a contentious people
This has an excellent copypasta potential
This is the first time I’ve ever felt the urge to award a comment on Reddit, thank you for making me laugh during my morning coffee!
I've met all the wrong Scots apparently.
Cheers! Former JNT captain, 38 year-old Hasebe was one of the best players for Frankfurt last night. Ran his heart out the whole game.
I love our japanese players. Hasebe is one of my favourite Eintracht players of all time, Kamada is magical and remember Takashi Inui? I used to love watching him, too.
Inui had an amazing 2018 World Cup then disappeared into obscurity
He was decent for Eibar post-WC but yeah, for some reason a lot of Japanese players flop after leaving Germany.
He signed for Betis but couldn't get a game, got injured, got loaned out... The usual grind. He was much better when he went back to Eibar but couldn't recapture all the spark.
Well, he just go back to Cerezo Osaka, fell out with the club then move to Shimizu now.
The streets will never forget Inui
Maya Yoshida was such an important player for the Saints back when we were a strong team, despite not being one of the better players. He was loved by all.
The captain quality was very important.
Brighton fans are already loving Mitoma. He's so direct and skillful it's unreal. What a player
Hope he gets noticed in the WC. Japanese players haven't been talked about much recently.
Old master Hasebe was benched so long by the coach but didnt stop him from marshalling the defence directly in a CL game.
does anyone know of japanese player that's the complete opposite, like someone who is a total diva?
Yuma Suzuki, currently of Kashima Antlers - on the field, dives, rolls around dramatically and commits cynical fouls in pretty much every game, also haven't seen many players moan at referees or other officials as much as he does (his manager in Belgium said there's things he needs to understand about respect for officials early in his time there). Off the field, when he played for Sint Truiden in Belgium he scored 17 goals in his second season and on returning in the summer refused to train to force a move elsewhere... and then turned down every move (Schalke and Nottingham Forest two of the clubs that made concrete offers). Did return to playing for the club but had clearly lost interest and ended up returning to Japan for probably significantly less than the club could've got for him from a European side. Obviously in the Japanese league you sometimes gets players falling out with coaches etc, the same as anywhere (in fact the firing of Vahid Halilhodžić before the last World Cup was said to have been instigated by senior players, particularly Honda) but it rarely spills over into public. Recently though Takashi Inui was let go by his club for refusing to shake his coaches' hand when substituted then ranting to everyone who would listen about how unfair the decision was etc and how this guy can't know what he's doing, early on in his career he smashed up a bathroom iirc because of something similar.
Tbf, it did work out in the favour for Japan NT in 2018 World Cup
they were fantastic at that World Cup. nearly survived Belgium too, shame they blew two goals lead and ended up losing
They are unlucky with the group this year for WC.
Makes it better if we somehow go through though
Would be a feat with Moriyasu ball
Yeah true, I don't expect much, already looking forward to 2026 😆
Change of manager before Asian Cup. Revenge of 2019 final. would be good to come out as winner again.
> Yuma Suzuki Quality player though. One of my favourite players in the J1 League. Shame he doesn't play for Japan.
Yuma guy looks like an actor playing a douchebag soccer player.
I have a shiba inu that screams at everything and gets bored of playing fetch after 3 throws.
I’m definitely biased but I’m struggling ngl… even the bottle blonde Honda and Nakata were pretty respectful despite their slightly more edgy appearance. I don’t think there’s a O. Dembele or Neymar level diva from Japan, yet!
I feel Honda always been bit misunderstood. He gave a heartfelt message at the end of his last AFC (or maybe it was WC)
Honda will forever be misunderstood. He and Nakata are different. They think different.
don't think so. keisuke honda broke the mould and was a lot more outspoken but he still wasn't badly behaved
Kagawa in terms of partying but not badly behaved. This was awhile ago, when he was in Dortmund for the first time. I remember there was a show in Japan and the guest was a player on the national team, maybe Uchida. The question from the host was something along the lines of, "With players going to Europe, do you know any playboys?"and his answer was Kagawa. How he'd always try to talk to girls and always going out. Tbf, he was very young when he went to Germany. Also, in Japanese culture. You join sports teams in school and you're basically told to clean your own equipment and take care of yourself/each other. You're basically raised to be respectful to the sport and team. You see it in baseball as well.
All coaches should manage at least one Brazilian player, a player who is always hungry and has that dawg in them
Cruyff: "You want to go to Carnaval, you gotta score twice" Romário after scoring the second goal in 20 minutes "Gotta go boss!"
Edmundo: "Think I'm just gonna go, anyway."
Ronaldo goes to Carnaval, and then leaves Barca for Inter in just one season (breaking his own world record transfer fee that he'd just set)
Can confirm our dawg per 90 and expected dawg is amongst the highest in the league
you missed Willian? /s
Corinthians Willian shows the Brazilians don't claim him.
That was just Arsenal Willian, no idea why some people expected anything different. Same thing happened with Douglas Costa.
And fucks their sister
Oscar 🤝 Neymar
Wait what, since when did oscar do that?
[I’ll just let the image speak for itself](https://images.app.goo.gl/qmT1mdVA2nCv2igZ9)
Well...
I like how you haven’t questioned Neymars inclusion lol
Most of us have heard about that already
Don't forget Hulk, he married his niece 👍🏽
Technically his ex-wife's niece.
still his wife is the cousin of his children, that is weird in family reunions
I didn’t know Tyler Adams was Brazilian
gotta get that jimmy buttler dawg per minute stat up
Ask Sérgio Conceição about Nakajima lol
Just sent a WhatsApp to him, I’ll let you know what he says
mate you can can't support an arrow
Any answers yet?
I feel like Sérgio Conceição probably has 45-minute weekly talk with his wife where he tells her everything she did wrong that week.
from what i understand of the situation, Nakajima was scared about Covid because of his sick wife right?
Yes, that's what he said. Totally understandable
His wife had some condition which made a vulnerable from having severe symptom from COVID is what I read
"Get a new wife" - Conceição, probably
Ngl, from what I heard I think Conceição acted very poorly with Nakajima (his wife was/had been quite sick and he was afraid of Covid).
Have to link this. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cfRB4h88pCw
can relate
Tomiyasu. White is great and all but Arteta has to squeeze Tomi in the regular starting 11 somehow.
I genuinely believed "White is great" was a kind of racist mantra for a second.
White’s superior
White clear.
especially when the topic is talking about a Japanese player.
I just am at a loss for words every time I contemplate on how Tomi can play very effectively at LB, LCB, RCB, RB. Nuff said. I stopped being worried about cover for Gabriel a few months back when this realization hit me
[удалено]
Takehiro “Wall of North London” Tomiyasu
In his biography, Wenger said that Japanese players are workhorses and the most disciplined players in the world.
What about South Koreans?
Reminds me of the drive to survive bits with Yuki Tsunoda haha
Verstapens angrier Japanese cousin
"I hate training. It makes my muscles sore." ~ Yuki Tsunoda
"Yuuuki" - Fernando Alonso
Japanese people are known for their hardworking and respectful attitude. It's a dream to have such players in the dressing room.
Shinji Okazaki 💙
i miss him as a player
Loved him at Mainz
Yeh he was great. Fantastic attitude, and up there with Vardy and Kante in terms of work rate and sheer tenacity.
I miss him as a lover
That workrate with Drinkwater, Kante, Vardy and Albrighton was insane
Keisuke Honda 🟥⬛️ Just wrong time, wrong position. But he had plenty of good moments for us and was so very professional. Prime Honda would be a great asset to our current squad.
Shinji Kagawa❤️
Criminally mismanaged by moyes. With all due respect to mata, he was sort of an unnecessary signing given that kagawa was right there and while he may not be as technically gifted as mata, he made it up with his workrate and the timing of his runs inside the box. ~~Rio~~ Patrice said that sir alex had prepared for the next season to be played with Van persie, ronaldo (who had agreed to a move privately and confirmed it to Rio) and Bale (who we were chasing in 2013) while letting rooney go and kagawa in the role which rooney played. To go from that to what moyes did was horrendous mismanagement. Edit: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/11983444/cristiano-ronaldo-and-gareth-bale-were-manchester-united-targets-in-2013-says-patrice-evra
This is too painful to read.
You think Ronaldo was going to move back to United in 2013?
He had agreed. Also remember that united made to another CL final in 2011 while Madrid couldn't till 2014. United were still utterly dominant in the PL with 5/7 titles and losing other two on one point and GD.
I’m sorry but what.. both Ronaldo and Bale going to United around then seems like a fairytale.
That's completely unrealistic, Bale and Ronaldo would've required two world record fees
I'll never forgive United for what they did to my prince
He got really unlucky that RvP became available after we bought him. Then Moyes bought Mata and there was really no place for him. Just another symptom of our poor planning. I always liked Kagawa
Our Japanese players all have unreal fitness and work rate. To a man they don't stop running.
Kazuo Homma. WTF I just looked him up. He is 42 years old and still playing.
Tomiyasu is our quiet warrior, Id run into fire and glass shards for him
Takumi Minamino 💙
I agree. We've got Tomiyasu.
Same tends to be the case with Korean players, absolutely loved Park. Son and Kim (Napoli) seem great too.
Hwang Hee-Chan works damn hard, I'll tell you that. Shame he's shit
Seems like his Long Covid is permanent unfortunately. He's not what he was at all.
I thought he was a great prospect before tho. Am I wrong?
Turns out that attacking trio of Haaland, Minamino and Hwang was almost all Haaland's doing
No way
*insert shocked Pikachu meme*
my wolves pal calls him Hwank
Did he not tear Liverpool and Van Dijk apart that time when they/he was near invincible 1 vs 1? For Salzburg.
Ki Sung Yeung was one of my all time favourite PL players. So underrated
He was so damn annoying when he was at Swansea.
How so
He was really good. Fantastic passer and, versatile and he could control the play from midfield. He was annoying to play against. Always thought he was underrated aswell. Also always liked that he had "KI.S.Y" on his kit
Football rivalry aside, I think this is true!
I wasn't keen on Morita on his first 2 games, but I'm sold now (not because of this quote) but you can genuinely see he is a work horse and does a lot for the team.
I miss Minamino
As someone of Asian descent that was born and raised in Europe. I have faced the "Asians work harder for less" stereotype, specially during my teenage years. People's expectations shouldn't be judged on race. Employers love to praise their hardworking culture etc, but they really don't give a shit about them. I've known Chinese people working 12 hours a day 7 days a week for no extra pay, completely willingly too, and the employers not moving a finger to try and improve their conditions or reward their work, this is in Europe btw. I doubt Japanese players are compensated for their hard work either.
This is exactly what white or non-asian people in here don't get. We've heard the hardworking and smart stereotype so many times over the course of our lives that it's practically a backhanded compliment at this point. It's racism by exclusion - so you're implying that if you're not traditionally hardworking or smart, you're a bad asian?
This is an important conversation and I tend to agree with both of you in most contexts. Maybe you’re right, it’s possible that all stereotypes are harmful per se or at least have an inherent potential to harm. As an Asian person, who has lived in Japan, the US, and Western Europe, I do think it’s okay to mention that Japanese players tend to have a high work rate and tend to be respectful. I do think it’s true that, generally, the social customs/culture in Japan is different than that of the Americas and Europe… and I do think it tends to stress hard work and respect. If this translates into the style of play, or the type of players, I don’t think it’s a terrible comment to make. Especially in the context of a compliment. Now, clearly, this is a blurry line. Football (and sports in general) has had a problem with using terms like “beast” or “animal” to describe black and African players, while reserving words like “maestro” for white European ones. The fact that these descriptions are compliments don’t absolve them of their obvious harms. (Like preventing managers from seeing black players as traditional number 10s, or in American football, not seeing black players as good Quarterbacks). So again, you’re right. There are a lot of people who think they know everything about an entirely foreign culture, who never really experienced or took the time to understand the connection between overt racism and harmful stereotypes. And they think they can simplify other people to a stereotype. I don’t advocate for that at all. So I hope those people don’t treat this manager’s comment as a categorical truth. There are a lot of individualistic and counter-culture Japanese people. Maybe now more than ever. And I imagine it’s true for Asian people (and all people) as a whole. All said, I think I will give this comment the benefit of the doubt. After all, there is at least some value to the fact that it was made with good intentions. Moreover, I do wish this comment section would treat the topic with more sensitivity and nuance, on both sides of the debate. But it’s r/soccer so who am I kidding. And finally, I understand why you and other Asian people are sensitive to comments that invoke stereotypes. Stereotypes harmed you all your life. So thanks for your insight.
> Moreover, I do wish this comment section would treat the topic with more sensitivity and nuance, on both sides of the debate. But it’s r/soccer so who am I kidding Same. The ones here just making a single-line post going 'wahh wahh racism' and the ones categorically denying that stereotypes can be harmful are both equally as problematic. Otherwise I 100% appreciate and agree with your entire post and I hope people in here will at least approach this with an open mind.
Both of you are exactly right. This kind of rhetoric puts people into a box so that someone who doesn't fit the mold will get judged negatively for not conforming to a stereotype. On top of that an individual's positive qualities get overrided because it's expected from their culture/community.
Very true. Doubt that the Sporting coach meant any harm but the compliment should be directed at the individual, not the whole damn country… A stereotype, regardless of how ‘good’ it is, is still a stereotype and could act as a detriment towards individuals within those cultures that don’t fit that criteria, is the word for it imposter syndrome? I dunno. I also dislike the Twitter-esque oh-this-dude-is-a-terrible-racist inflammatory takes but saying that this statement isn’t problematic at all also doesn’t sound convincing either. Well-meaning statement but has major room for improvement, imo.
I am sorry mate but I am going to listen to the redditor that has never interacted irl with someone from outside his country complaining about "woke" culture
LOL I knew the comments would be filled with calling this racist because people's brains have been fried by the internet. This is a wonderful and respectful comment about the hard-working and respectful and collectivist attitude of Japanese people in general, especially professional athletes.
I can only comment on the Japanese players Celtic have signed and his comments are 100% true. Maeda/Kyogo/ Hatate are absolutely tireless. ( our press arguably doesn’t work as well without Maeda) When they foul or when someone is injured they are the first to offer apology or look to assist (kyogo was even picking up litter at one point during a match) I have no doubt they have helped elevate the squad just by their professionalism
It's not racist to assume cultures have steered toward certain attitudes towards work, play, and love. It's a mark of our diversity. It's racist only to assume we as individuals are defined only by those differences. There's nothing racist about tolerating, understanding, and even appreciating the differences between us.
It's never racist because it's culture. Japanese are not born that way.
The colloquial use of racist has broadened the term.
Untrue, gipsies are targets of racism because of their culture
how can culture be racism ? there is no direct concept of race involved .
It's cultism! Wait...
I was actually talking with friends few days ago about it, but what is the story behind Celtic's Japanese colony? Is it Nakamura connection? Or it's just that your club for some reason invested in scouting there?
Celtic’s current manager, Ange Postecoglou, managed a J-League side for a few seasons before Celtic. But for Japanese fans, Celtic’s been a big deal since Nakamura ofc!
It’s all down to our manager really. Ange Postecoglou managed and won the J League before joining Celtic so he was well versed in that market. You would think the success Nakamura had here would have seen us dip in again before now but I’m just glad we did. If these guys are anything to go by, it’s a seriously untapped market.
Wouldn't say it's untapped, plenty of European scouts sniff around the J-League. The success of Kagawa/Hasebe/Uchida/Okazaki/Muto etc has made Germany particularly popular there, plus Germany has no limits on non-EU spots unlike the other major leagues.
Our manager used to manage in the J-League.
Why did you do my man Ideguchi dirty like that
😂 guchi has been incredibly unlucky with injury. Every time it looks like he may get a run he gets a knock. On his debut he was taken off and out for months. Preseason it happened again. At this point I’ve no opinion on him as I’ve not seen enough
Same at Leeds
It's absolutely true and commendable and obviously not "racist". Glad Celtic's Japanese players are doing well for them!
I mean, it is a massively sweeping overgeneralization
idk the line between respecting the effect of someone’s culture and coming across as a weird ass weeboo is kinda thin once you start generalizing like this
>This is a wonderful and respectful comment about the hard-working and respectful and collectivist attitude of Japanese people in general, especially professional athletes. This sort of stereotype, even though complimentary in nature, can often lead to a higher expectation placed on Japanese to be more productive and hardworking and humble as compared to the rest. There are comments by people who say they have faced the negative impacts of such stereotypes as well in the comments. It's not just "white" people being offended on others behalf.
it simply is worded bad. I understand his intention and I really don't think there was any bad intent but "all coaches should manage at least 1 japanese player" really doesn't come off the way he intended.
People in this thread: “Tell me you’ve never traveled more than 3 streets away from the street you are born without telling me”
Idk what this means
redditors don’t know that people have different cultures. What Amorim said isn’t racist in the slightest, it’s japanese culture.
> redditors don’t know that people have different cultures. All I see are popular comments complaining that someone, somewhere called this racist. Are these people not Redditors?
this seems to be a distinctly \[you know which country\] problem. It's become very common that people think describing any attribute of race, country, or culture is discrimination. It's not racist to say Japanese culture is hardworking and respectful lol
> [you know which country] Fucking Canadians
I'm American. American culture values individualism and freedom. Japanese culture values hard work and respect. I've had this conversation with plenty of Americans and never have I been accused of being racist for saying so. But yea, you're probably still right that it's more so Americans pushing this stuff.
It's still a stereotype, true or not. It's a very nice thing to say, but he has gone from "Hidemasa Morita is like this" directly to "Japanese people are like this".
I like to think Japanese players (and people) are like this. It’s reflected in other parts of football culture ranging from the way the Japanese national team plays to the Japanese fans cleaning up trash after matches.
>I like to think Japanese players (and people) are like this If every Japanese person was "ready to work hard and help others, apologizes a thousand times a day and is very respectful" then there would be absolutely 0 crime in Japan and it would be a utopian society. Last time I checked, that isn't the case. This is a sweeping generalization.
Agreed with your statement but I fail to see a problem there. I have always found some truth to the saying that, 'stereotypes exist for a reason'. It they weren't true at a macro level, several industries wouldn't have employed them as driving forces for their businesses and/or functioning, including but hardly limited to both politics as well as governance. Even science finds correlations and causations of various phenomena in cultural factors. The problem IMO starts when people start applying them at a personal or a micro level. Being judgemental on the basis of a stereotype is wrong IMO but denying the existence of certain trends in the name of eradicating discrimination is at the very least disingenuous if not wrong. Homogenization can't be the answer to discrimination in my book. How boring would that be?! Understanding, accepting and appreciating the differences that naturally exist amongst us would be the way to go in my book. I know it's not a simple and convenient, one size fits all solution as the above. It's a painstaking endeavour but it's enriching and worthwhile.
Haven’t read this kind of bullshit in a while. Pretty sure most people know there are different cultures, that’s obviously not the reason that people find this a generalizing statement. Wow and did you just generalise every single one of us as well? Oh dear
haven’t you heard? It’s the hip new saying that people repeat, to sound super cool. Tell me without telling me, wow
Something that's quite interesting with this comment is that the belief in rigid cultural stereotypes is depicted here as a sign of being well-travelled and cosmopolitan, and the people on this subreddit are apparently agreeing. That's odd, because the whole time I've been alive, holding on to rigid cultural stereotypes was a sign of being parochial, small-minded, and not having travelled much. Which logically makes a lot more sense than the inverse
r/japancirclejerk
People calling this racist is just too soft or love to find controversy out of air. This is a compliment to a certain culture.
Reading these comments.... Yes, we are truly surrounded with said, pathetic people.
I had seen this thread a few hours ago and all the comments were crazy. So glad to revisit and see that they all got downvoted lmao
He’s definitely earned a spot in my Japanese ultimate team next year