ANOTHER World Cup shock as Japan come back to beat mighty Germany

Japan have pulled off the second stunning upset of the Qatar World Cup by beating four-times winners Germany in the latest embarrassment for the tournament veterans.

In echoes of Argentina’s humiliating defeat to Saudi Arabia yesterday, Germany took the lead through a first-half penalty but a spirited fightback saw the underdogs claim a famous 2-1 victory.

Germany have now lost their opening match in their last three tournaments and failed to make it out of the group stage in Russia in 2018 for the first time in their history. 

With Costa Rica and fellow World Cup holders Spain still to play, Germany now face another uphill battle to escape the ‘Group of Death’, and their fans and media are already savaging the superstars.

Bild branded the result a ‘debacle’ and said the team ‘made a fool of themselves’ while Die Welt accused the millionaire stars of being ‘frightened’. 

The result sparked wild scenes of jubilation from Japan’s loyal travelling fans while Germany’s expectant fans could only watch on as horror with their heads in their hands.

Japanese players run on to the pitch in celebration as the final whistle blows confirming a famous World Cup victory over Germany

Germany’s Serge Gnabry buries his head in the grass after the embarrassing defeat, consigning his country to their third successive opening game loss

Germany fans watched in on horror at the final whistle after travelling to Doha to watch their team succumb to a third successive tournament opening day defeat 

A German fan back home at the Christmas market in Westfalenschaenke cries out in frustration as Germany miss another golden chance

Japanese fans could not contain their emotions at the final whistle in one of the country’s biggest ever results

Jubilant fans celebrate at the final whistle at a fanzone event in Tokyo as Japan claimed a famous victory

Miserable German fans stand among Japanese supporters awaiting the final whistle at the Khalifa Stadium in Qatar

Japan fans watching the game from Tokyo cheer and wave their country’s flag after scoring against the Germans

Japanese substitutes run on to the pitch at the final whistle to celebrate their famous win over Germany

Japan’s midfielder Ritsu Doan celebrates with his teammates after scoring his team’s opener

Japan’s Takuma Asano celebrates after Japan came from 1-0 down to beat four-time winners Germany 

Ilkay Gundogan holds his head in his hands as Germany struggled to stem the late Japan fightback

Bild (pictured) branded the result a ‘debacle’ and said the team ‘made a fool of themselves’ while Die Welt accused the millionaire stars of being ‘frightened’

The Germans had dominated the contest at the Khalifa International Stadium and taken the lead with a 33rd minute penalty from Manchester City’s Ilkay Guendogan after Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda had fouled wing back David Raum. 

But a quick-fire double from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano within eight minutes turned the tide and set the Samurai Blue on course for a historic win. 

To add insult to injury, much of Japan’s team, including their two goalscorers, ply their trade in Germany’s Bundesliga, making them all too familiar to the heartbroken fans watching back home. 

Germany are famed for their tournament prowess but they have now suffered three defeats in the opening games of their last three tournaments.

At Euro 2020 they lost to France before bowing out to England in the Round of 16, while they lost to Mexico at the 2018 World Cup and failed to make it out of their group after losing to South Korea. 

It was the first competitive meeting between the two nations.

Before the game, Germany’s players covered their mouths during the team photo in an apparent rebuke to FIFA following its decision to stop plans to wear armbands to protest discrimination in host nation Qatar.

The result sparked wild scenes of jubilation from Japan’s loyal travelling fans while Germany’s expectant fans could only watch on as horror

Ritsu Doan of Japan celebrates after the 2-1 win during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group E match

Japan fans watching on from Tokyo cheers as the team takes a surprise lead against one of the tournament favourites

Kai Havertz of Germany reacts during the FIFA World Cup 2022 group E soccer match between Germany and Japan

After surviving an early scare when Japan came close to taking the lead, Germany dominated the first half. 

Gundogan of City and Joshua Kimmich of Bayern Munich were the driving forces behind the German superiority, moving the ball often to the left side where the advancing David Laum was a persistent danger from left-back.

Former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger, now of Real Madrid, was the first to threaten, heading narrowly wide from a corner. Then Kimmich saw a powerful shot saved and Gundogan lifted the rebound over the bar when really he should have scored.

Japan were organised across their back four and were able to restrict Germany to shots from distance on the whole. But they were persistently losing ground in midfield and this enabled the Germans to keep pushing relentlessly until something gave.

Gundogan was twice more denied – once by goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda and once by the leg of former Southampton defender Maya Yoshida – before he was eventually given an opportunity from the penalty spot.

Again it was a run from Laum down the left that caused Japan their problem. The 24-year-old was in yards of space and as he turned back inside to assess his options, goalkeeper Gonda fouled him twice as he bundled him to the ground.

Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring for Germany with a penalty

Gundogan cooly tucked home, with Japanese keeper Shuichi Gonda going the other way

The penalty was given after Gonda clumsily brought down Germany left-back David Raum

The decision was subjected to a VAR trip but there was little doubt about it and Gundogan ambled up to stroke a penalty to the goalkeeper’s right in the 33rd minute.

Now that the Japanese defence had been breached, Germany began to play with more fluency and confidence and their opponents were hanging on a little bit as half-time neared.

Chelsea’s Kai Havertz popped in a pass across goal in first half added time but VAR showed him to be a yard offside. Then at the other end Japan briefly rallied to threaten as Daeda headed a cross narrowly wide. Prior to all that, though, Kimmich worked Gonda from distance and much-talked about teenager Jamal Musiala swept one of his own over the bar.

Japan’s change at half-time saw Arsenal’s defender Takehiro Tomiyasu come on but nothing changed in terms of the flow

of the play. Indeed, within a minute of the game restarting, Serge Gnabry overlapped on the right and kissed the top of the bar with an angle shot. And then, in the 50th minute, Musiala almost scored one of the goals of the tournament so far, selling a succession of dummies as he eased across the penalty area before shooting over the bar with his right foot.

This was a World Cup debut for the Bayern Munich player who attended an English school and as time went on he grew increasingly influential. And when he cut inside from the left in the 60th minute to feed Gundogan, his team-mate should have done better than plant a shot against the outside of the post.

There continued to be sporadic threats from Japan. In the 67th minute, for example, defender Ko Itakura met a corner at the far post and headed dangerously across goal. Then, soon after, another corner caused a bit of panic in the German penalty area. Among the small but persistently noisy group of Japanese fans behind the goal at that end, there was a growing sense that something may be possible. And when goalkeeper Gonda made four saves in the space of one minute – three of them alone were from Gnabry – Japan remained very much in the game.

Gonda had made up for the error that conceded the penalty and then some. The save of the match then came from Germany’s Neuer – the veteran palming away a cross shot from Daichi Kamada – but a minute later the 2014 champions’ defence was finally breached.

A cross shot from the left from substitute Takumi Minamino was pushed away again by Neuer but this time the rebound ran to Doan and he rammed the ball in to the empty net.

Germany were paying the price for not killing the game but Japan’s self-belief and courage had played a part in the comeback too. A draw looked at that stage as though it would represent a superb result for the underdogs but they weren’t finished and they stunned Germany with a second goal with seven minutes left.

The long free-kick forward from Itakura, caught Nico Schlotterbeck sleeping and when Asano controlled the ball beautifully he was able to hold off his opponent’s challenge and beat Neuer high at his near post.

What a turnaround this had been. Germany had controlled this game but suddenly, with the clock counting down, they were facing one of the biggest embarrassments in their history.

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