Three Goals in Ten Minutes

Japan led for eighty minutes. One goal, holding firm, looking like they might actually pull it off against a side nobody had rated highly. Then Australia scored three times in the final ten minutes and it was over—3-1, a scoreline that took a moment to fully process.

The Japanese fans called for Zico to resign. The press blamed the referee, who had a rough match by most accounts. I waited a few days before writing any of this, because what I would have typed at full time would have looked very different from this. Fucking Australia.