On November 23, local time, 4 World Cup matches had upset results, of which the two games in Group E provided a total of 10 goals full of entertainment, Germany led 1-0 with penalties in the half, and in the second half, Japan changed from 451 to 343, and scored two goals in the final period to win 2-1, the script is very similar to the Saudi Arabia's upset defeat of Argentina earlier, the same group Spain vs Costa Rica will be staged later, Spain will fight against Germany, which lost all three points in the first game, decided to beat Costa Rica to win the goal difference, The result was a 7-0 victory that became the biggest disparity in the moment, and a penalty in the final Cana was saved by Thibault Courtois, and Belgium won by three points.
1. Japan stayed strong in the first half and was bent on upset
Japan responded in the first half with a 451 formation, sending Junya Ito, Dairan Maeda and Kenhide Kubo to counterattack the game, the three were fast, and there was an offside fraud in the early part of the game, but then Germany successfully controlled the situation and found a gap in Japan on the left side many times, Gundogan led 1-0 with penalties in 33 minutes, Japan was in a beating situation, fortunately only conceding a goal at half has achieved the goal; Germany wasted two golden chances early in the second half to open the scoreline, including Musiala with a 1-4 shot and a shot from the top of the Gundogan penalty area that went out of bounds.
Since the beginning of 57 minutes, Japan has constantly changed attacking players, including attacking midfielder Ritsu Domoto, wingers Kaoru Mikasa and Takumi Minamino, as well as striker Takuma Asano, the four are energetic and scrappy, substitutes on the field with physical strength to constantly put pressure on the German defense, of which Asano Takuma has found three shooting opportunities soon after, more lethal than the starting Maeda Dairan, the last 74 minutes to change to Takumi Minamino specifically inserted into the half space position, 1 minute later by his teammates on the left side of the box to receive a teammate transmission, half pass and half shot was saved by Neuer, Domoto scored 1-1 on penalties. Eight minutes later, Asano Takuma broke through the offside with a long pass and overwhelmed young German centre-back Nico Schlotebeck with a narrow shot through Neuer's 2-1 victory.
In the latter part of the game, the German team's physical strength began to decline and the Japanese team was more mobile after the midfield substitution, and the Japanese team's good fitness was their biggest advantage in recent days, and the Japanese coach also seemed to have the intention to use 3 high-speed players in the first half to consume the physical strength of the German defense, and only in the second half was replaced by several players fighting in the Bundesliga and Europe, and the result was really a success by him. Saudi Arabia's upset defeat of Argentina may have been a bit of luck, and Japan's victory over Germany is a credit for the manager's deployment.
2. Spain and Belgium won smoothly and took three points
Seeing Germany upset Spain, who are in the same group, it is even more important to seize the opportunity, because they will face Germany who has lost all three points, so it is very important to beat Costa Rica, not only to win but also to win a big game, because Japan, Germany and Spain in the same group have the opportunity to finally calculate the difference in goal difference to determine the promotion, and sure enough, they beat their opponents by 7 goals to occupy the first place in the group, and the next battle only needs to draw Germany to advance to the top of the group. As for Belgium facing the World Cup newcomer Canada in the final court also almost lost points, the first half was pressed by Canada to attack wildly, Xin Hao goalkeeper Thibault Courtois saved a penalty, and Belgium with a long pass Batshuayi broke through the offside shot into the lead half, the second half successfully maintained a 1-0 victory to win the game and take all three points, Canada's offensive firepower is good, but the strength of the defensive line is still not enough to challenge the strong team.
3. Dejan Lovren and Takumi Minamino are very missed by Liverpool fans
Two former Liverpool players appeared, Dejan Lovren is still the main defender of Croatia, the performance is still the same as before, Croatia was the runner-up in the last World Cup, this year's veterans should be too difficult to upset consecutive games, but the players in the team have strong execution, it is not easy to beat Belgium in the same group, but it is also the ability to remain unbeaten in three games. As for Takumi Minamino not starting tonight, it is more surprising, after watching the second half, you can see that this is the reason for the manager's deliberate retention, he made the first touch of the ball after the change to create an equalizer for his teammates, his experience in the Champions League has always been useful, and it is also an important piece to break through the German defense.
In addition, Garvey, who was once one of Liverpool's pre-season acquisition targets, is now one of the Spanish midfielders, and he also scored a wonderful goal in this game, which seems to be further and further away from Liverpool. Another Asensio, who was also rumored with Liverpool before the season, played as a pseudo-9 striker today, and his performance is eye-catching, which may explain why Liverpool fancy him, I believe Klopp also sees that he can be qualified for this position, but with Roberto Firmino's form and performance back, he should not become a Liverpool player.
After the fourth day of the tournament (Qatar time), the provisional match data is as follows:
3 of the 12 matches were 0-0. The strong teams are all half-time leads, and if they score penalties to lead, they win and lose in the second half, and the result is 1-2. The remaining unplayed teams are Brazil and Portugal, and one of the two teams may lose in upset.