Japan beat Germany 2-1 to advance to Group 5 of the World Cup. Jaime Moriasu’s team had a great comeback after being left behind by Gundogan’s well-timed penalty. This is the second big surprise of the tournament after Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia.

The German national team decided to protest before the start of the match against the practice of FIFA. The players of Hansi Flick were silent in a group photo.

The Japanese opened the scoring in the 8th minute thanks to Maeda, but his goal was not counted due to offside. Hansi Flick’s side had their first good chance in the 13th minute thanks to a Kimmich strike.

Usually the hosts began to gain yards on the field. In the 16th minute, the Nationalmanschaft missed a great opportunity, the ball went wide after a header from Rüdiger.

Japan threatened Maeda and Itakura, but their players were unable to find the back of the net. Germany held the initiative and converted a penalty in the 31st minute. Gundogan took over and opened the scoring.

Just before the end of the first half, Germany had another good moment with Musiala’s strike. In stoppage time for the first half, Havertz hit the net, but VAR did not count his goal.

Germany went strong in the second half and scored Gnabry in the 50th minute. Moments later, Musiala had a good individual shot, but he missed the target.

In the 60th minute, Gundogan had a crossbar, and later in the phase, the Japanese quickly counterattacked, Asano shot wide. The same player threatened again 9 minutes later, while in the 71st minute the hosts usually had a big phase with Gnabry.

Two minutes later, Neuer perfectly parried Ito’s shot from the penalty area. In the 75th minute, Mitoma took the ball from the left, Neuer made a weak save, and Doan outplayed the German goalkeeper.

The Japanese got a breakthrough in the 83rd minute. Asano went to the rear of the defense, entered the zone and made the score 1-2 with a beautiful finish.

Usually the hosts were looking for an equalizing score. Germany had a good moment at the end of the match, but Goretzka finished poorly.

Germany (Flick): Neuer, Gilles, Rüdiger, Sloterbeck, Raum, Kimmich, Gundogan (Goretzka 67), Miller (Hoffman 67), Musiala (Gotze 79), Gnamrpi (Mukoko 90), Havertz (Fulkrug 79)

Japan (Moriyasu): Goda, Sakai (Mimino, 75), Yoshida, Itakura, Nagatomo (Mitoma, 57), Eto, Tanaka (Doan, 71), Ito, Kamada, Kubo (Tomiyashi, 46), Maeda (Asano, 57)