When we last saw Germany at the World Cup, it was bowing out early from its title defense after a humiliating exit in the 2018 group stage. Four years later, Die Mannschaft may have retooled, but they’re reeling again.
lkay Gündoğan’s 33rd-minute penalty kick gave the Germans the lead, but a failure to make their copious amounts of pressure pay off allowed Japan to hang around and eventually snag a hard-fought 2–1 win. Ritsu Dōan found the equalizer in the 75th minute and Takuma Asano scored a late go-ahead strike in the 83rd to emerge as the heroes for the Samurai Blue. Both Dōan and Asano feature for German Bundesliga clubs, an additional twist to one of the top matches at the World Cup thus far.
With Spain and Costa Rica’s match still to come, it remains to be seen how damaging dropping all three points will be for Hansi Flick’s side, which will face Spain next under immense amounts of heat considering the circumstances.
Before the match started, Germany made a statement as a team. With FIFA and Qatar banning the “OneLove” armband to promote inclusion, especially that of the LGBTQ community, the Germans covered their mouths for their team photo as a show of support.
As for the match, Japan may have come in as the lower-ranked side (24th; Germany is 11th), but it’s not the type to be fearful of European opposition—after all, it led Belgium 2–0 in the round of 16 in 2018 before capitulating late. And early on the Samurai Blue played Germany quite evenly, earning a corner in the fifth minute and appearing comfortable in possession and pushing forward.
That point was emphasized in the eight minute, when Japan had a goal chalked off for offside. Daizen Maeda got in behind and beat Manuel Neuer with a clinical first-time finish, but he was a step offside and was rightly flagged in the moment, keeping things scoreless.
Germany’s best early chance came on a 17th-minute corner kick, when Antonio Rüdiger was able to get his head on the end of it, only to direct his chance wide of the goal.
Germany began to enforce itself and seize control a bit more, and it resulted in a pair of long chances on target—one nullified for offside and another from Gündoğan, whose blast was saved well by Japan goalkeeper Shūichi Gonda.
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Gonda’s decision making came into question a few minutes later. After Joshua Kimmich picked out David Raum on the left-side of the box, Gonda effectively NFL-style tackled him, gifting the Germans a penalty. Gündoğan stepped to the spot and promptly scored, giving Germany a 1–0 lead.
The lead only emboldened Germany, who, as the first half wound down, had commanded roughly 80% of the possession, even if it was unable to turn that into clear chances.
The closest Germany came to testing Gonda again came in the 45th minute, when Jamal Musiala was able to get to his right foot and fire from the edge of the box, but he put his chance over the bar. The Germans did have a close call in first-half stoppage time, but Kai Havertz’s tap-in was clearly from an offside position, and a review took the goal off the board to keep things at 1–0 entering the break.
German pressure continued at the start of the second half, with Serge Gnabry and Musiala again coming close at finding the second, the latter dazzling with his footwork before firing high.
The hunt for the second goal continued, and it nearly came through Gündoğan, who put a low, 16-yard shot off the outside of the right post after making a darting run through the midfield.
The failure to extend the lead kept Japan in the match, and it nearly struck on the counter, with Asano firing just wide of the far post from a left-sided angle.
Germany came right back at Japan in the 70th minute, with a furious sequence that tested Gonda to the max. On three occasions, he made top-notch saves, first, following Kimmich’s ball over the top for Gnabry that was laid off for Thomas Müller for a shot from inside the box, then on a follow-up blast from Rüdiger, and then finally on a header from Gnabry.
It was then Neuer’s turn to show out, with the all-time great making a sensational diving save off a close-range chance, preventing the equalizer.
Neuer made another save moments later, but the rebound he conceded gifted Japan the chance it was looking for. Dōan pounced on the loose ball and fired into the empty net to make it 1-1.
Japan didn’t stop there. Off a long ball out of the back, Asano sprung free down the right-hand side, and even under defensive pressure he was able to beat Neuer from a tight angle to make it 2-1.
Germany came inches away from tying it up in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time, with Leon Goretzka firing wide after having the ball land at his foot some 15 yards out from goal.
Japan held on for the win, though, and with a date vs. Costa Rica up next, must be feeling quite optimistic about its chances of getting out a group with two heavy favorites.
