Japan Pull Off The Best-Executed Offside Trap In History vs. Senegal

There are few things more satisfying to a manager than a well-executed offside trap.

If Japan boss Akira Nishino enjoys a perfect set piece then he must have been proud as punch on Sunday afternoon, when his side produced a genius offside trap against Senegal.

In the first half of their Group H clash, Senegal's set piece taker tried to whip it into the box, but the entire Japan team moved in the same direction to leave 6 of the opposition in an offside position.

You don't see this happen very often, but when you do. Wow is it satisfying.

It was certainly one of the more exciting games of the tournament. Liverpool winger Sadio Mane opened the scoring in the 11th minute, but it didn't take long for Japan to equalise.

Takashi Inui bagged just after the half hour mark to send fans into meltdown, especially when you realise what his name looks like upside down.

Senegal went 2-1 up in the 71st minute thanks to a goal from Moussa Wague, but top scorer Keisuke Honda managed to equalise once more.

It was an incredible game of football, but the genius offside trap from Japan grabbed the headlines on social media.

We definitely need to see more of these offside traps. They are ridiculously satisfying to watch.

Thoughts on the set-piece genius? Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Football News, Senegal, Football, World Cup, Japan

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_