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Matthias Schrader/AP
DOHA, Qatar — Another World Cup day, one other World Cup shock.
Substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano scored late objectives Wednesday to provide Japan a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Germany.
Both Doan and Asano play for German golf equipment.
“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,” mentioned Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, who had 5 Germany-based gamers in his beginning lineup and three, together with 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 players,” Moriyasu mentioned. “I’m very grateful for that.”
Ilkay Gündogan had given four-time champion Germany the lead with a first-half penalty. But Doan, who performs for Freiburg, pounced on a rebound to equalize within the 76th minute after Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer blocked a shot from Takumi Minamino.
Then Asano, who performs for Bochum, sprinted away from Nico Schlotterbeck and beat Neuer from a slim angle within the 83rd minute of the primary aggressive assembly between the 2 nations.
The match was performed a day after Argentina’s 2-1 upset loss to Saudi Arabia.
Before Wednesday’s sport, Germany’s gamers coated their mouths throughout the crew picture in an obvious rebuke to FIFA following its resolution to cease plans to put on armbands to protest discrimination in host nation Qatar.
Nancy Faeser, Germany’s sports activities minister, attended the match on the Khalifa International Stadium and was sitting beside FIFA president Gianni Infantino whereas carrying the identical “One Love” armband that FIFA had outlawed with its threats of penalties.
It was solely the third time Germany had misplaced its tournament-opening sport after defeats towards Algeria in 1982 and Mexico in 2018. In the opposite World Cup openers for Germany, the crew had gained 13 matches and drawn 4.
Germany outplayed Japan for a lot of the match with 24 makes an attempt on purpose in comparison with Japan’s 11. Despite gifting away the penalty for a slipshod problem on left again David Raum, Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda made a string of saves and was participant of the sport.
“We fought as a team,” Gonda mentioned. “We have to make sure we never stop.”
Japan subsequent performs Costa Rica, whereas Germany faces Spain on Sunday.
Germany’s buildup was fraught by protests and political statements due to Qatar’s human rights file and its remedy of migrant staff and members of the LGBTQ group.
Germany was enjoying on the World Cup for the primary time since its surprising group-stage exit as defending champion in 2018, whereas Japan is showing in its seventh straight World Cup and is seeking to attain the quarterfinals for the primary time.
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