In the World Cup in 18 years, there have been many wonderful matches, Spain vs Portugal, France vs Argentina, France vs Croatia.
One of the things I think is the most exciting one is Japan vs Belgium.
Japan is ranked 61st in the world, Belgium is ranked 3rd in the world, the Japanese team is worth 60 million euros, and Belgium is worth 600 million euros. Belgium's squad is a dream, premier league assist king, the world's top midfielder De Bruyne, the premier king Hazard, Manchester United's main centre-forward Lukaku, Manchester City captain Kompany, the new goalkeeper Thiel Thiel, Wirtsel, Vertonghen... Judging from the strength on paper, Japan has basically no chance of winning.
Belgium starter
However, Japan has long been ready for a deadly battle, the third game of the group stage, coach Nishino Ryu boldly rotated, let Shinji Kagawa and Keiyuki Honda rest the whole game on the bench, while taking the goal heroes such as Akiya Daisuke and Takashi Kane from the starting lineup, and in the case that Japan did not determine the group qualification, rotated 6 main players to replace Poland. The intention is obvious, that is, to bet on the future 1/8 finals with the loss of the group, just like the traditional betting on national luck, betting everything on the quarterfinals!
Japan against Belgium, many media before the game believed that this was a game that would be spent, and the only thing Japan could do was to lose as few as possible. "I'm afraid people all over the world think that the Japanese team will be here, but because of this, we have nothing to lose." This is the voice of captain Makoto Hasebe after the game, and it also represents the idea of the whole team.
Big Air Wing TIFO
Pre-match interview with Belgian coach Robert E. Martinez said we practiced penalties specifically, while Japanese coach Sho Nishino said Japan didn't need penalties and they could finish the game in 90 minutes. Everyone thought That Saino was crazy and actually said such wild things.
In the first thirty minutes of the first half, the Japanese team played a little restrained, and in the last fifteen minutes, Japan let the world see the style of Asian football, rapid ball transfer, ferocious pressing, flexible and neat team running position, and even suppressed Belgium on the ground, Hazard and De Bruyne, two of belgian players with the best footwork, it is difficult to successfully pass the Japanese players one-on-one.
At the beginning of the second half, the Japanese team in a rapid counterattack, by Shibasaki Takeshi sent a scalpel-like straight ball, Haraguchi Kiki in the penalty area after the ball adjusted the rhythm, in the case of a single knife calmly chose to hit the far corner of the goal, Courtois whip long, the score of 1-0.
Just four minutes later, Qian Guishi's comic-like dreamy long-range shot hung straight into the dead corner of the goal, as if the dream had shone into reality, and the plot of the football player was truly staged.
At the same moment, the fans on the streets of Tokyo are almost crazy, shirtless men and women with messy hairstyles, which seems to mean that Japan's dream of advancing to the top eight is about to come true.
Belgium began to realize that it could not play the ground with Japan, replaced Fellaini, and began to play crosses. In this match, the average height of the Belgian starting team reached 184.9cm, while the average height of the Japanese team was 178.8cm. The Belgian starters have seven players over 185cm tall, and the Japanese team has only two players, Maya Yoshida and Nagashi Kawashima. Belgium, which had an absolute advantage in height, tied the score by pulling two goals in a row with a header.
In the last ten minutes of the game, Japan still maintained an offensive posture and did not want to delay overtime. But the result was so brutal that in the 93rd minute, Courtois confiscated Keisuke Honda's corner kick, a quick serve, Belgium's 14-second quick counter-attack in the final stages of injury time killed Japan, 3:2, Belgium laughed to the end.
In this quarter-final, the Japanese team played incredibly well and even deserved to qualify. The dignified Belgian with the fantastic squad played an entire game, using discipline, tactics and wisdom to make up for the difference in stature. Until the last moment, the Japanese did not retreat, did not hold back, did not swing the bus, did not have the intention of keeping the peace and overtime, they did not look down on themselves at all. They really think they can win.
Maybe many years later, people will see the report of this match again: "Japan lost 2:3 to Belgium". Such a light and fluttering sentence, only those who have experienced this game know what happened, the Blue Warriors fought to the last moment, fell down with dignity, and finally the wild attack could not be killed by the counterattack, the loss was clear, the loss was cheerful, this is a beautiful dream of Asian football, although the dream finally woke up, but it was still so beautiful.