Japanese Fans Target Dutch Player After Kubo Injury Takefusa Kubo, Japan’s star midfielder, was forced to sit out the nation’s World Cup opener against the Netherlands after sustaining a left knee injury during the match on June 14 in Texas. The incident occurred in the 25th minute of the second half, when Kubo collided with Dutch defender Denzel Dumfries, leading to a significant setback for Japan’s campaign. The injury left Kubo unable to participate in the 2-2 draw, sparking a wave of aggressive social media posts from Japanese fans directed at Dumfries. The backlash grew so intense that some Japanese users expressed shame for the behavior, with one comment stating, “I’m ashamed as a fellow Japanese person.” The incident marked a continuation of a broader issue of online abuse faced by players during international tournaments. A similar pattern emerged during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where FIFPRO, the global players’ union, reported that 19,636 social media posts were classified as abusive. The study, conducted by British company Signify between November 20 and December 18, 2022, analyzed data from 2,000 accounts linked to 864 players and coaches, as well as 126 team and national association accounts. The analysis involved AI and human reviewers, with AI initially flagging 434,000 posts as “high risk” out of 20 million across platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and X. Human reviewers identified 19,636 as abusive, prompting requests for content removal. The report highlighted that players from France faced the most abuse, followed by Brazil, England, Mexico, and Argentina. The England-France quarterfinal match generated the highest number of abusive posts at 12,823, while Japan’s group stage game against Germany saw 8,785 abusive posts.#world_cup #fifpro #denzel_dumfries #takefusa_kubo #signify
