Despite the defeat, Japan made it into the round of 16 thanks to Colombia’s 1-0 victory over Senegal. Japan players spent the last minutes of the game passing each other the ball on their own side of the pitch with the crowd booing them.

“It was a serious decision – to play to keep the ball. What if something have gone wrong? I had to be sure that nothing serious would have happened on our side of the pitch… Of course, we did not want to allow Poland to keep the winning score, we tried to attack. But maintaining the balance was important. In some way, our players were satisfied with the score,” Nishino told journalists.

The head coach added that he was counting on the result of the game between Senegal and Colombia and stressed that it must have been the right decision given the fact that Japan reached the knockout stage.

“Maybe some will condemn me for such a way of playing, but I had no other plans… I made the decision to play exactly in that way,” the head coach stated.

In the knockout stage, Japan will face either Belgium or England.