DOHA. – Late goals by substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano gave Japan an incredible 2-1 comeback victory over Germany in the World Cup on Wednesday in another emotional fillip for Asian soccer after Saudi Arabia’s shock win over Argentina.
Four-time champion Germany had looked to be cruising to a routine victory via Ilkay Guendogan’s first-half penalty but paid a fatal price for profligacy in front of goal.
The shock result was a repeat of its 2018 World Cup nightmare when, as defending champion, the Germans lost their opener to Mexico and, after another defeat by South Korea, were condemned to an unheard-of group-stage exit.
The Asian team, half of it playing club football in Germany, had shown almost nothing in attack until a series of second-half substitutions injected some energy into its first competitive fixture against a country that did so much to develop the game in Japan in the middle of the 20th century.
Doan equalized in the 75th minute before Asano smashed home the winner in the 83rd for a stunning turnaround.
“We wanted to start playing aggressively, we wanted to dominate the game,” said Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, whose second-half changes changed the whole feel of the game. “But Germany is very strong, so we needed to defend persistently and take our chances.”
Japan is playing in its seventh successive World Cup, having never qualified before 1998, but has never claimed such a high-profile scalp. “It’s a big surprise. We saw the Saudi victory over Argentina — the Asian countries are reaching the global standard,” Moriyasu added.
It was an outcome that looked unlikely in the extreme as Japan struggled to get any foothold for most of a game played against the backdrop of FIFA’s threat of sanctions if German captain Manuel Neuer wore a “OneLove” armband. In response to that act of protest being effectively banned, the German players covered their mouths in a “silenced” gesture for their team picture.
It was certainly a subdued atmosphere in the ground until Germany’s early dominance was rewarded when Joshua Kimmich picked out David Raum in acres of space in the box and goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda clumsily brought him down as he turned, with Guendogan dispatching the penalty in the 33rd minute.
Kai Havertz knocked in what he thought was a second in first-half stoppage time but that, like an early effort for Japan’s Daizen Maeda, was ruled out for offside.
There was initially little change to the pattern in the second half as Jamal Musiala shot over after a penetrating run and Guendogan clipped a post when he should have scored.
Then came a thrilling spell when Gonda made amends by somehow making four successive quickfire saves to deny Jonas Hofmann and Serge Gnabry, keeping his side in the game.
