Japan substitutes provide 2 goals to upset Germany
Another World Cup day, another World Cup shock.
Substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano scored late goals Wednesday to help Japan come from behind and upset Germany 2-1 in Doha, Qatar.
Both Doan and Asano play for German clubs.
“I believe it’s a historic moment, a historic victory. If I think about the development of Japanese soccer, thinking of players, for them, this was a big surprise,” said Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, who had five Germany-based players in his starting lineup and three, including the scorers, on the bench.
Ilkay Gündogan had given four-time champion Germany the lead with a first-half penalty. Doan, who plays for Freiburg, pounced on a rebound to equalize in the 76th minute after Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer blocked a shot from Takumi Minamino.
Asano, who plays for Bochum, sprinted clear of Nico Schlotterbeck and beat Neuer from a narrow angle in the 83rd minute.
It was the first competitive meeting between the two nations. They played two friendlies in the past, with Germany winning 3-0 in 2004 before a 2-2 draw in 2006.
Germany outplayed Japan for much of Wednesday’s match and had 24 attempts on goal compared with Japan’s 11. Japan had only 24% possession.
“It’s brutally disappointing, not only for the players, but also the coaching team,” Germany coach Hansi Flick said. “We deserved to go in front. It was more than deserved. Then you have to say that Japan gave us a lesson in efficiency.” Belgium 1, Canada 0: Thibaut Courtois saved an early penalty and Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal to give Belgium a win over Canada, spoiling the North American team’s return to the tournament after 36 years.
The Canadians have yet to collect a point or even score a goal in four World Cup matches, which includes the three games from their debut in 1986.
Still, they outplayed second-ranked Belgium at times, with Alphonso Davies — the key man of Canada’s team — squandering the best chance when his penalty was blocked by Courtois.
Spain 7, Costa Rica 0: Not since Pelé in 1958 had someone as young as Gavi scored a goal at the World Cup. The 18-year-old midfielder led the way as Spain pulled off the biggest World Cup victory in its history.
Pelé scored two goals in the 1958 final, when Brazil won its first World Cup title by beating Sweden 5-2.
Spain’s young squad avoided any chance of an upset with Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio and Ferran Torres scoring a goal each in the first half. Torres, Gavi, Carlos Soler and Álvaro Morata added to the lead in the second half. Morocco 0, Croatia 0: Another surprisingly strong performance by an Arab country stifled the threat of Luka Modric and held 2018 finalist Croatia to a draw.
Morocco managed to do enough to rein in Modric, the Croatia captain who was still his team’s best player in their Group F opener and had one of the best chances when his shot just rose over the crossbar in the first half. Dejan Lovran got a shot off at a corner in the second half and Sofyan Amrabat cleared off the line for Morocco to preserve the draw.
Briefly: Germany’s players covered their mouths with their right hands for their team photo before their opening World Cup match to protest against FIFA for its clampdown on seven teams’ plans to wear armbands that were seen as a rebuke to host nation Qatar’s human rights record. ... England captain Harry Kane trained Wednesday and could be recovered from his ankle injury to play against the United States on Friday. “He will probably be a little bit sore, but I think he’s fine,” said England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.