Japan faced four-time world champions in their Kickoff match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. This match was the first face-to-face between two teams in FIFA WC. Germany remains unbeaten in the teams’ two friendly international games (1W, 1D). Japan is considered the underdog of this group, having potential and appearing in their seventh straight WC. Regarding World Cup appearances, Germany became the 2nd team to appear in 20 World Cups. The last one they missed was 1950.
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Germany protested the FIFA before the start of the game against Japan. They also released an official statement on their statement condemning soccer’s biggest governing body.
It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us.
Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position. pic.twitter.com/tiQKuE4XV7
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) November 23, 2022
Contrary to everyone’s analysis, Japan made the first shot on the post, but the goal was disallowed due to the player being offside. In the 33rd minute, german midfielder Ilkay Gundogan successfully converted a penalty into a goal and gave Germany the lead.
Japan turned the tide against Germany in their FIFA WC opener
The German team in the 49th minute made another goal just before the end of 1st half. The goal, however, was disallowed after the VAR review because the ball had crossed the end line. In the first half of the game, Japan had just 19% ball possession. Germany, however, played the half like everyone expected from them.
Absolute scenes when the final whistle was blown as Japan win against Germany 🔥pic.twitter.com/9Z7pACBEzy
— FCB One Touch (@FCB_OneTouch) November 23, 2022
Japan started 2nd half by changing their game plan and attacking the german goalpost back-to-back. This strategy worked and Japan leveled the goal in the 75th minute as Japanese forward Ritsu Doan made a fiery goal.
After that Japan shocked everybody as Takuma Asano gained a lead for Japan in the 83rd minute of the game. The world saw the mammoth of football being helpless as they saw Japan making another upset of the event.
ASANO HAS GIVEN JAPAN THE LEAD OVER GERMANY🤯pic.twitter.com/mbtdoSWORS
— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) November 23, 2022
Here is how fans reacted to the comeback:
More from the World Cup: Japan just beat Germany in a surprise upset.
Japan's fans are looking to get the same perks as Saudi Arabia, who declared today a national public holiday after their team's surprise win over Argentina yesterday. pic.twitter.com/cvyJCSuopE
— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) November 23, 2022
Maybe goes to show Germany should concentrate on football than worrying about political issues
— Michael (@humedogs) November 23, 2022
Should’ve focused more on football haha pic.twitter.com/QGJX8AhQbl
— Ahmed (@KD7_W1) November 23, 2022
Germany are embarrassing 🤦🏾♂️
— Oscar (@NTPOscar) November 23, 2022
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To say that nobody expected Japan to come back after the first half would be a colossal understatement. This is the first time after 1970 that Germany lost a FIFA WC match after leading at the end of the first half.
Germany are amazing! They just need to work on their short & long passing, shooting, movement off the ball, positioning, crossing, decision-making, set pieces, man-marking, dribbling, ball control, tackling, counter-attacking, overlapping, running, blocking & scoring goals
— n ♡ (@nidhi81980812) November 23, 2022
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In other news from the World Cup, Australia got beaten by France 4-1, and Morocco – Croatia match ended in a draw with a goal. The biggest news is, however, still the mind-blowing defeat of Argentina by Saudi Arabia 2-1.