QATAR 2022 WORLD CUP:Japan beat Germany 2 -1 to secure a famous World Cup victory
By Samson Adeyemo
The first game of Group E at the Khalifa International Stadium crowned the Japanese national team as they stunned Germany with a late comeback in their World Cup opener, with goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano seeing them win 2-1 to the amazement of their supporters.
It is on records that Japan had never previously beaten Germany but this victory came as a result of hard work, intelligence, commitment and team work, as expressed by Japan Head Coach Hajime Moriyasu.
According to Moriyasu, Japan fought really hard against Germany as second-half goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano gave the Asian nation the victory.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Moriyasu said: “I believe it’s a historic moment. It is a big surprise, and we are now reaching the global standard.
“We saw Saudi Arabia with a surprise win (beating Argentina 2-1 on Tuesday), so we’re showing our capability of Asian football.
“From the start, we decided to be aggressive; however, Germany’s aggression was higher. This was no surprise for us. They’ve a wonderful goalkeeper, Mr Neuer. However, our squad were very intelligent, they were smart and played well persistently. They fought really hard.”
Germany manager Hansi Flick was not left out of the post match press conference as he gave his remarks.
“With this defeat and zero points, we are under pressure, no question about it. We can only blame ourselves. It’s a great disappointment.
“We were on the right path in the first half, we had 78 per cent possession and were ahead 1-0. Then we had good chances in the second half that we didn’t take advantage of.
“Japan were simply more efficient today. We made mistakes that we should never commit especially in a World Cup and those are the things that we need to improve on.”
