Chinanews.com, Beijing, November 24th. On the evening of the 23rd Beijing time, the Qatar World Cup Group E group match took place.
The Japanese team conceded a goal first, scored 2 goals in a row within 10 minutes of the second half, reversed the German team 2:1, and got off to a good start.
When the final whistle blew, the substitutes of the Japanese team rushed into the field, and everyone gathered in a circle to celebrate the victory.
Fans who watched the game couldn't help exclaiming: I watched this episode of the World Cup yesterday!
In the match between Saudi Arabia and Argentina on the 22nd, the Saudi team also scored 2 goals in the second half to win after falling behind by one goal.
After the Japanese team won this time, the Asian team has won 2 victories in the World Cup in Qatar.
In the latest FIFA world rankings, the German team ranks 11th and the Japanese team ranks 24th.
Before the start of the World Cup, the "German Chariot" was considered one of the favorite teams to win the championship, and the loss in this campaign was quite an upset.
So, how did the Japanese team reap the victory?
Do you understand this Japanese team?
In Group E this time, there are four teams from Germany, Spain, Costa Rica and Japan, which is a veritable "group of death".
The trip to Qatar is the seventh consecutive World Cup finals for the Japanese team.
Image source: screenshot of FIFA website
Even so, according to the analysis of past historical data, the outside world is not optimistic about the prospects of the Japanese team's qualifying.
The Spanish team and the German team have both won the Hercules Cup, while the Costa Rica team is the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
On the way to qualify for the World Cup finals, the Japanese team was not all smooth sailing.
They once lost to the 51st-ranked Saudi team in the world in the world preliminaries, and coach Moriyasuchi even faced the crisis of dismissing get out of class.
In the final stage, the Japanese team stabilized the situation and directly entered the World Cup with the second place in the group.
On November 23, local time, in the first match of the first round of Group E of the World Cup group stage, the match between the German team and the Japanese team started.
In this game, the Japanese team fell behind by one goal in the first half, and continued to threaten the German team's goal in the second half. Doan Ritsu equalized the score, and Asano Takuma scored the winning goal, and finally reversed Germany to win.
The picture shows the Japanese team celebrating their victory.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
When announcing the World Cup roster, Morihoichi conveyed to the outside world the goal of the Japanese team this time: break into the quarter-finals and rewrite history.
Now it seems that this is not as simple as "chanting slogans".
In this battle with the German team, the Japanese team focused on defensive counterattacks.
In the 31st minute of the first half, Gundogan made a penalty kick to help the German team take the lead.
After the change of sides and another battle, the situation on the field changed suddenly, and the Japanese team was obviously unwilling to accept the result of a small loss.
At the beginning, Moribao dispatched troops and generals, trying to reverse the situation on the field through changes.
In the 71st minute, Takumi Minamino's shot was saved by Neuer, and Ritsu Doan, who came off the bench, scored with a supplementary shot and Japan equalized the score.
In the 83rd minute, Itakura Akira made a long pass from the backcourt, Asano Takuma received the ball and scored a burst shot, and Japan scored another goal to overtake the score.
The 2:1 score was finally maintained until the end of the game.
In the starting lineup of the Japanese team in this game, a total of 8 players played in overseas leagues, of which 6 played in the Bundesliga.
And this is one of the distinctive features of this Asian team.
On November 23, local time, in the first match of the first round of Group E of the World Cup group stage, the match between the German team and the Japanese team started.
In this game, the Japanese team fell behind by one goal in the first half, and continued to threaten the German team's goal in the second half. Doan Ritsu equalized the score, and Asano Takuma scored the winning goal, and finally reversed Germany to win.
The picture shows the game scene.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
Although there is no world-class star like Sun Xingmin in the team, the strong lineup in Europe makes the Japanese team play very advanced.
If Yuta Nakayama, who played for Huddersfield in the British Championship, missed the World Cup at the last minute due to injury, as many as 20 of Japan's 26-man roster would play in the European League.
Currently playing for the Premier League leader Arsenal, Tomoyasu Kenhiro is the biggest star in this Japanese team. His experience in overseas high-level leagues has given this Japanese team a high level of tactical literacy. They value the whole and cooperate with each other tacitly.
In the victory over the German team, the head coach Moriyasu's change in the second half had a miraculous effect, which also allowed him to break the doubts of the outside world.
The 54-year-old Mori Yasuichi took over the coach of the Japanese national team after the 2018 World Cup in Russia. At the same time, he also served as the head coach of the Japanese Olympic team and led the team to the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics.
Familiarity with Japanese players is undoubtedly a major advantage for him to lead the team.
In terms of tactical system, Mori Yasuichi's style is more pragmatic, focusing on the speed of offensive and defensive transitions, which was also fully demonstrated in the opening game of the Japanese team's World Cup.
On November 23, local time, in the first match of the first round of Group E of the World Cup group stage, the match between the German team and the Japanese team started.
In this game, the Japanese team fell behind by one goal in the first half, and continued to threaten the German team's goal in the second half. Doan Ritsu equalized the score, and Asano Takuma scored the winning goal, and finally reversed Germany to win.
The picture shows the Japanese team celebrating their victory.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
Judging from the post-match technical statistics, the Japanese team does not have the upper hand in many statistics such as shooting, possession rate, and pass success rate, but they are very good at seizing counterattack opportunities and giving their opponents a fatal blow.
After the game, Morihoichi praised the team's united combat.
"The team is united as a whole, everyone works together, bites the German team tightly, and finally defeats the opponent with tenacious tenacity." In the World Cup, there will always be more challenges waiting for each team.
After a simple celebration, the Japanese team has begun to seriously prepare for the next group match.
The Japanese team, which only entered the World Cup finals for the first time in 1998, is now representing Asia for the seventh time in a row. Three times they broke through the group stage, but they all stopped in the top 16.
When more and more players go to overseas leagues to experience themselves, will the more integrated Japanese team break the "curse of the top 16" this time?
We will wait and see.
(Finish)