From domination to competition to shocking defeats, the FIFA World Cup 2022 is getting more unpredictable with every passing match. A spectacular second-half comeback by the Japanese team at the Khalifa International Stadium enabled Japan to defeat previous and four-time world champions Germany in match 10 of the tournament in yet another startling upset.
High-speed action started the game off as Japan rapidly switched to an offensive stance against the Germans. Five minutes into the game, Japan receives their first corner kick. Japan scored the game’s opening goal in the ninth minute thanks to a stunning counter by Maeda, but the referee raised the flag to indicate an offside. Germany was fortunate here, but the Japanese were definitely trying to warn them! Germany finally found their composure after a few minutes, and they soon used a free kick to open up a scoring opportunity. Antonio Rudiger successfully receives a good cross from Joshua Kimmich, but his shot just misses the post.
The game is still in progress even though the 30-minute mark has passed and the score is still 0-0. Germany is awarded a penalty after a foul by Japanese goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt 31 minutes into the first half. Ilkay Guendogan makes the decision to take the shot and executes, sending the ball past Schmidt to score the game’s opening goal and give the Germans a desperately needed lead. Kai Havertz appeared to have scored the second goal for the Germans in the final six minutes of the first half, but the goal was reviewed and ruled offside. Germany holds a 1-0 lead after the opening period.
52 minutes into the game, Musiala placed himself in the perfect position to score but was unable to put the ball on goal after gliding around the German defender with his quick feet. Guendogan came incredibly close to scoring his second goal of the game in the 60th minute, but the ball hit the post. Japan launched a comeback right away, forcing Germany to defend. Ritsu Doan scores Japan’s first goal in the 75th minute, and Takuma Asano scores the country’s second goal shortly after. There are only a few minutes left in the game when Japan unexpectedly takes the lead.
After 90 minutes, there were 7 more minutes, and the Germans were desperately trying to score at least an equalizer, but they were unable to do so because Japan did not allow the control that they had fought so hard to seize. Japan defeated Germany by a slim margin to earn all three points in its tournament debut as the referee blew the final whistle.
The Germans need to regroup and figure out what’s going wrong. It seems as if the ghost from the 2018 world cup has come back to haunt them. The four-time champions were simply outplayed by Japan in what is considered to be a one of the biggest upsets in world cup history, similar to the one we witnessed yesterday when Saudi Arabia pulled off a shocking win over Argentina.
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