Japan Fans Came, Cheered —Then They Cleaned Up

Japan's supporters didn't just watch their team rally for a late draw in Texas—they stuck around to clean up the mess. After a 2-2 result against the Netherlands in Arlington on Sunday, Japanese fans pulled out the oversized blue plastic bags they'd been waving during the match and used them to collect trash in the stands, continuing a World Cup habit that's drawn global notice since 2018. "For Japanese people this is just a normal thing to do," coach Hajime Moriyasu tells the London Times. "When you leave a place, you have to leave it cleaner than it was before." Fans even got an assist from New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston, on hand as a media correspondent, who joined in both the pre-game chants and the post-game cleanup.

"We're polite," one fan tells the Athletic. "We don't chant against the other team. ... But at the same time, we don't want our supporters to think that they're only there to clean the stadium. We're there to win the games, you know? I don't want Japanese fans to be famous only for that." On the field, Japan grabbed a key point in Group F despite managing only three shots on target, with Daichi Kamada redirecting Koki Ogawa's header for an 89th-minute equalizer. Next up: Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico, on Sunday, then a return to Arlington to face Sweden in their final group match.