4-1 away to defeat Germany! Winning the world championship, the Japanese team is really used to it
Reporter Han Bing reported that the national football team was held to a draw at home by world No. 136 Malaysia, South Korea went five consecutive games without a win, while Japan continued their "next gram" - relying on Junya Ito and Kiyo Ueda's opening 20-minute combo, and two assists in stoppage time, world No. 20 Japan beat 15th-placed Germany 4-1 in Wolfsburg, following the World Cup opener 2-1 on November 23 last year. After more than 9 months, he once again gave the former world champion the first blow.
Compared with last year's first World Cup victory over Germany, this time the Japanese team has improved in technical statistics. Possession increased from 26% to 33%, and even defenders Kenhiro Tomiyasu and Itakura had the opportunity to catch and possess the ball in defense. Last year, although the score was 2-1, Japan was at a complete disadvantage 11-25 in the number of shots, and this time it was 14-11 against Germany. Coach Morihoichi stressed that beating former world champions Germany twice in a row proves that Japanese football has gradually mastered the possession advantage against Europe's top teams, and that the threat in front of goal is greater.
Coach Morihoichi changed to three defenders in the second half, continued to increase his attacking power, and finally scored two goals in stoppage time by Takuma Asano and Bi Tanaka, completely shattering the morale of the Germans. Four players scored goals one after another, substitute Kenei Kubo assisted the goal, and the diversity of attack points in Japan was astounding, and Asano Takuma scored consecutive goals against Germany. This is the second time in five years that Japan has scored four goals against a world champion, the last time being a 4-3 victory over Uruguay in October 2018.
After the match, Morihoichi stressed that the Japanese team has a higher goal, not only to defeat the German team, but to attack the World Cup round of four and even the championship. The Japanese team will continue to challenge the world's best teams and accumulate enough confidence. Now, Europeans no longer regard Morihoichi's bold words as a dream, defeating the world champion team three times, and Japanese football has completely ended its former Europhobia and begun to attack the world's top teams.
Of the eight world champion teams and four world-class teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Croatia, Japan has beaten five world champions from France, Germany, Spain, Argentina and Uruguay, as well as Belgium and Croatia, before challenging England, Italy, Brazil, the Netherlands and Portugal, which they have never beaten.
Most importantly, this is the first time that Japan has outscored a European team by three goals away from home, without even resorting to home field advantage to add fans to support the buff.
Since 1971, Japan has beaten European teams only five times away from home. The last time Japan beat a European team away was back in November 2013, when Zacheroni's side beat Belgium 3-2. But apart from the 1-0 victory over France at the Stade de France in October 2012, Iceland, Poland and the Czech Republic were not world-class teams that had previously beaten them. You know, before the Japanese team played in Europe, it lost to European teams 5 times in a row. Now, they have won three consecutive former world championships in less than a year, which shows their rapid growth.
The Japanese team is full of strength, and the German team, which has lost three consecutive A matches for the first time in the 21st century, is completely in a crisis of public opinion. German team boss Gundogan reluctantly admitted that perhaps the team was really too proud of himself: "The Japanese team is the better side, they are better than us in every way. In fact, if it weren't for Ter Stegen's excellent performance, the German might have walked out of the Volkswagen Stadium with an even more humiliating scoreline.
With the World Cup group stage out and five winless games in the warm-up matches, there may not be much time left for Germany coach Frick. After all, next year, Germany is the host, the call to win the title is high, and the patience of German fans for Frick has reached the limit. It is reported that Nagelsmann is the biggest favorite to succeed, and if the German team loses to the French team on the 12th, Frick's position may not be guaranteed.