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#2 - Composure, Composure, Composure
We’ve had a lot of great underdog stories in this World Cup already and, enjoyable as it has been, it has to be admitted that anyone rooting for them has had to endure panic attacks from nervous clearances, last-ditch challenges, and ghastly mistakes that somehow were not punished.
Amazingly, Japan inflicted very little such panic on their supporters. Such was the icy nervelessness displayed by the Japanese players for most of the game that there were moments where De Bruyne and Witsel appeared bewildered that their considerable pressure on the Japanese midfielders resulted in nothing more than a slick pass to another blue shirt.
Kagawa and Hasebe, in particular, were magnificent in the way they got out of tricky situations with a precise pass to a teammate who, it appeared to everyone else, was out of range. We have seen Japan play such silky football in the Asian Cup, where they are expected to have large swathes of possession, but this was different – this was in a World Cup knockout game against one of the favourites.
