Moriyasu hails historic victory as Japan reach the ‘ global standard’
Manager delighted to see players’ hard work pay off as comeback win over Germany blows group wide open
JAPAN boss Hajime Moriyasu lauded a result he saw as the greatest in the team’s history after they pulled off a shock 2- 1 victory over Germany in their World Cup Group E opener.
Having trailed to a 33rdminute penalty from Ilkay Gundogan, Japan fought back to triumph at the Khalifa International Stadium with strikes in the 75th and 83rd minutes from substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano, who play in Germany for Feiburg and Bochum respectively.
Asked afterwards if he thought the latest upset at the tournament in Qatar, a day on from Argentina’s 2- 1 loss to Saudi Arabia, was the greatest result in Japanese football history, Moriyasu told a press conference: “Yes, I believe it is a historic moment, a historic victory, to say the least.
“If I’m thinking about the development of Japanese football, we’ve been building up.”
He added: “It’s a big surprise. We are reaching to the global standard – and also, we of course saw the Saudi Arabia surprise win. We are showing our capability from Asian football.
“From the start we decided to be aggressive. Of course Germany’s possession was higher, but this was no surprise for us. Our players were very intelligent, they were smart…( and) we had opportune moments in the first half as well.
“For the second half we changed players, we tried to defend their attacks. Our players fought really hard.
“Maybe there was a possibility to concede more goals. However, the second half we caught them up, not just a simple counter- attack but waiting and then going for the opportune moments, our players demonstrated this.
“Our players played well and maybe we could show that, how Japanese players have been building up their true abilities.”
Germany failed to take a number of chances to increase their lead, which included Gundogan hitting a post and Serge Gnabry being denied three times in quick succession by goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda.
The eventual defeat made for yet further World Cup woe for the four- time winners, who had arrived in Qatar looking to bounce back from exiting the
2018 edition, at which they had been defending champions, in the group stage.
Their second group match is a crunch clash with Spain on Sunday, when Japan take on Costa Rica.
Germany boss Hansi Flick, who had overseen only one previous defeat in 16 matches since taking charge of the side in August 2021, said:
“For us, not just players but the coaching staff, it’s a great disappointment of course.
“We were on the right path. I think in the first half we had 78 per cent of ball possession and were ahead
1- 0. Then I think we had good opportunities in the second half and unfortunately didn’t take advantage of them.
“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 in the end we have to improve on. We have to defend better, be better in our half, we have to get pressure on the ball in that last third.
“Now we have to make up for it. We have to make sure when we play Spain on Sunday that we take advantage of our opportunities.
“Of course, now with this defeat and zero points, we are under pressure, there’s no question about that. We can only blame ourselves, so now we have to make sure we can come out of this. We need to be courageous and decisive. We need the aggression in the game that’s necessary at a World Cup.”
Germany are one of the sides whose captain had been set to wear the anti- discrimination, rainbow- coloured OneLove armband at the tournament before dropping the plan following threats of sporting sanctions from FIFA.
And the players made their feelings about the situation known just prior to kick- off, posing for a team photo with their hands over their mouths.
The German football federation, the DFB, tweeted a picture of that gesture, and said: “Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position.”
After the contest got under way, there was an early scare for Hansi Flick’s men when they lost possession in the seventh minute, Japan broke forward and Celtic’s Daizen Maeda sent the ball past Neuer, only to see the flag up for offside.
Germany were then awarded a penalty by Salvadoran referee Ivan Barton just past the half- hour mark when Gonda was judged to have fouled David Raum, which Manchester City midfielder Gundogan dispatched in composed fashion.
Further efforts from Kimmich and Jamal Musiala went over the bar, and Chelsea’s Kai Havertz then saw a close- range finish disallowed for offside before Maeda sent a header just wide of Neuer’s goal in the final moments of the first half.
In the second half Neuer produced fine work as he kept out a deflected Junyo Ito shot, with Hiroki Sakai blazing offtarget on the follow- up.
Moments later, a similar situation saw Japan equalise, with former Liverpool man Minamino’s effort being parried by Neuer and fellow substitute Doan able to make the most of the loose ball, blasting into the net. And Japanese fans were then sent into delirium once again soon after as Asano controlled a long ball forward, held off Nico Schlotterbeck and fired in.