As we hadn’t recovered from the first historical upset of FIFA World Cup 2022, we had to witness another one. After Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina, Japan beats the former world champions Germany by 2-1. Interestingly, both upsets occurred just 24 hours apart. The victory has been termed as Miracle of Doha and a public holiday was announced to celebrate.
Japan vs Germany
The second upset came at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. Germany has been going strong under the new coach Hansi Flick with the addition of the young blood. They had just lost one game in the last 16 games. They have not exited the group till 2018. If they lose to Spain on Sunday, things can be difficult for them.
Saudi Arabia beats Argentina by 2-1
Germany controlled the game in the first half by scoring a goal. The Japanese players kept going with Ito chasing down balls which caused problems for the German defence. İlkay Gündoğan scored a goal on a penalty when the Japanese Goalkeeper Shūichi Gonda made a foul. The score was leveled 1-1 in the 75th by the aggressive Japanese substitute Ritsu Doan. The victory was sealed in the 88th minute when substitute Takuma Asano scored the second goal. The game showed that Japan coach Moriyasu’s tactics pay has paid off as Japan never gave up and kept the game alive.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said, “I believe it’s a historical moment, a historical victory to say the least. We have seven players who feature in the Bundesliga and that has contributed to this.”
Flick said after the match, “We had good opportunities to score after we got the opening goal but I think Japan was very efficient. We have to avoid those mistakes; we have to do better. We have an important game coming up against Spain and we have to bounce back from this.”