El equipo nipón jugó un partido para la historia, dejando a los alemanes con cero puntos en el Grupo E y Japón con los 3 puntos en Qatar 2022. / Qatar World Cup 2022: Japanese give Germans a taste of their own Bundesliga medicine

El ‘grupo de la muerte’ con dos campeones de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA (Alemania y España), dejó la segunda sorpresa la derrota de los alemanes en manos de Japón en el primer partido del Grupo E, donde están también España y Costa Rica.

Los alemanes iniciaron un partido vertiginoso, con peligro, donde el resultado llegó al minuto 33 con remate de Gundogan. El descanso parecía una victoria de los alemanes más segura mientras que Japón apuraba por un empate rápido a punta de velocidad y precisión.

Ahora ¿qué viene para Alemania?
Los alemanes iniciaron el segundo tiempo con pocas llegadas, confundidos por la actitud japonesa. El segundo tiempo fue todo para Japón que logró empatar a los 37 minutos con gol de Doan y cinco minutos después llegó el 2-1 de los nipones con gol de Asano.

Los alemanes intentaron irse con todo por el empate pero el tiempo no les alcanzó. Victoria histórica para Japón ante una Alemania que ahora deberá remar desde atrás con rivales difíciles como España y la propia Costa Rica, que aunque parece el rival más accesible, siempre ofrece resistencia, así como pasó en Brasil 2014.

Alemania inició con Neuer, Ruediger, Raum, Niklas, Schlotterbeck, Kimmich, Gnabry, Mueller, Musiala, Gundogan y Harvetz. A los 67 Mueller fue sustituido por Hofmann, al igual que Gundogan que salió por Goretzka. Musiala salió al 79 y entró Goetze, y Havertz salió reemplazado por Fullkrug.

El equipo japonés inició con Gonda, Itakura, Nagamoto, Sakai, Yoshida, Endo, Kubo, Ito, Kamada, Tanaka y Maeda y realizó los cambios en los minutos 46, 57, 71 y 75.

Los alemanes tienen una nómina que sumada en su conjunto cuesta 885,5 millones de euros, según los datos disponibles del portal Transfermarket.com. Mientras que los japoneses tienen un valor 5,5 veces menor al de los alemanes, siendo valorizados en 185 millones de euros.
Por Francisco Gómez Villamizar

Qatar World Cup 2022: Japanese give Germans a taste of their own Bundesliga medicine

Doan and Asano help Asian giants outsmart their teachers in Group E contest

Doha: Japan’s Bundesliga players took matters into their own hands in their 2-1 comeback win over Germany in Group E of the World Cup on Wednesday, giving their opponents a taste of their own medicine.

In the days before the match the Japanese waxed lyrical over the contribution of Germany and its coaches for helping to develop the game in the country in the decades after World War Two.

But when they left the pitch at Doha’s Khalifa stadium as sensational winners they had clearly outsmarted their teachers.

Strikes from Freiburg’s Ritsu Doan and VfL Bochum’s Takuma Asano, who struck from fellow Bundesliga player Ko Itakura’s deep free kick, gave the Asians their first ever win over Germany.

It was the two scorers, both substitutes, who woke their team up from their first half slumber.

True German fashion
In true German tournament fashion, Japan refused to surrender even after a one-sided first half in which Germany had 16 efforts on goal and possession of over 70 per cent. Japan won the game with just 26 per cent possession.

The introduction of Doan, nicknamed ‘the Japanese Messi’ and Asano in the second half lit up their game as they hustled and turned the tables on their opponents with high pressing and relentless work while charging forward.

A total of eight Japanese players in the squad compete in Germany’s top two divisions and they brought back the right lessons learned there.

Their win, a result of pure determination and grit, had them punish their opponents for their lackadaisical approach to the game.

Even though he was a 57th-minute substitute, scorer Asano had the ball in the opponents’ box more times than all but two Germany players.

Careless play
Germany will be asking themselves how they lost a game, which should have been killed off in the first half but they ultimately paid a dear price for their careless play and below par finish.

They used to punish opponents with their never-say-die attitude for decades but on Wednesday they were on the receiving end of late goals.

Japan continued to hope and after goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda made a quadruple save to keep them alive, they delivered the double punch for yet another upset in this tournament.

The Germans huffed and puffed but could not find a second goal, with highly rated players like Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz showing only brief glimpses of their skills and their known weakness in defence once more blatantly obvious, especially in the winner.

At the end the Japanese proved as determined as their own fans who did not stop singing over 90 minutes. The German fans were nowhere to be seen or heard. Published: November 23, 2022 19:01
Reuters