INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Another World Cup day, another World Cup shock after Japan&s substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano scored late goals Wednesday to help
Japan come from behind and upset Germany 2-1.Both Doan and Asano play for German clubs.&I believe it&s a historic moment, a historic victory
If I think about the development of Japanese soccer, thinking of players, for them this was a big surprise,& said Japan coach Hajime
Moriyasu, who had five Germany-based players in his starting lineup and three, including the scorers, on the bench.&They&re fighting in a
very strong, tough, prestigious league
They&ve been building up their strength
In that context we believe that those divisions (Bundesliga and second division) have been contributing to the development of Japanese
&I&m very grateful for that.&Ilkay Gündogan had given four-time champion Germany the lead with a first-half penalty
But Doan, who plays for Freiburg, pounced on a rebound to equalize in the 76th minute after Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer blocked a shot
from Takumi Minamino, Associated Press reported.Then Asano, who plays for Bochum, sprinted clear of Nico Schlotterbeck and beat Neuer from a
narrow angle in the 83rd minute.It was the first competitive meeting between the two nations
They played two friendlies in the past, with Germany winning 3-0 in 2004 before a 2-2 draw in 2006.World Cup host Qatar must conquer nerves
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Germany outplayed Japan for much of Wednesday&s match and had 24 attempts on goal compared to
The Japanese had only 24% possession.&It&s brutally disappointing, not only for the players, but also the coaching team,& Germany coach
&We deserved to go in front
It was more than deserved
Then you have to say that Japan gave us a lesson in efficiency.&The match was played a day after Argentina&s 2-1 upset loss to Saudi
Arabia.Before their game, Germany&s players covered their mouths during the team photo to protest against FIFA following its decision to
stop plans to wear armbands that were seen as protesting discrimination in host nation Qatar.Nancy Faeser, Germany&s sports minister,
attended the match at the Khalifa International Stadium and was sitting beside FIFA president Gianni Infantino while wearing the same &One
Love& armband that FIFA had outlawed with its threats of consequences.It was only the third time Germany had lost its tournament-opening
game after defeats against Algeria in 1982 and Mexico in 2018
In the other World Cup openers for Germany, the team had won 13 matches and drawn four.Japan will next play Costa Rica on Sunday, while
The Spanish routed Costa Rica 7-0 in the other Group E match.The post Japan gets 2 late goals to upset Germany 2-1 at World Cup first
