sakai

In the realm of "always too soon" any references tying a Japanese player to the Fukushima nuclear disaster is high up on the list.  In spite of that bit of common sense, that's apparently what happened this weekend in the German Bundesliga.  

At a game between Werder Bremen and Hannover 96, the Bremen announcer described a Hannover goal by Japan's Hiroki Sakai (one of the goals of the weekend across European soccer) as "a bit of Fukushima."  Eep..

Werder Bremen announcer Christian Stoll has apologised after describing a goal by Japan's Hiroki Sakai as "a bit of Fukushima" in their Bundesliga clash with Hanover 96.

Hanover's Japan defender Sakai, 23, had fired home a 41st-minute equaliser for his side, who went on to lose 3-2 in Bremen on Sunday to leave both sides mid-table.

Stoll described the goal to the 40,435 crowd at Bremen's Weser Stadion as "that shot was a bit of Fukushima" but later apologised for the offensive faux pas.

"That was stupid and I am sorry," said Stoll.

"I wanted to express that the shot was a real thunderbolt and the comment slipped out."  

With the report depicting Stoll talking to the crowd in the stadium, I'm assuming he was serving as the public address announcer.  That's quite the strange thing for a PA announcer to say, but perhaps the role is slightly different in Europe.

I'm not sure how one confuses "Fukushima" with "thunderbolt" but as we've learned over the years anything is possible when someone is behind a live microphone.  Surely there has to be dozens of Japanese cultural references you can make before a disaster of epic proportions comes to mind to describe a goal though, right? 

[AFP]

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