Germany lose World Cup opener against Japan

By Andrew Lord

23 November 2022

Germany suffered a shock defeat in their first game of the 2022 World Cup after Japan came from behind to win 2-1.

İlkay Gündoğan had put Germany ahead in the first half, but two goals in seven minutes, an equaliser from Freiburg midfielder Ritsu Doan and the winner from Bochum midfielder Takuma Asano, saw Japan turn the game on its head.

Germany had an early scare when Celtic forward Daizen Maeda put the ball in the net, but it was ruled out for offside. The dominance of the Germans soon began to tell with the team registering 82% possession in the first half. In the 33^rd minute İlkay Gündoğan gave Germany the lead from the penalty spot after Shūichi Gonda had brought down David Raum.

It looked as if Kai Havertz had put Germany 2-0 up in first half stoppage time, but he had been in an offside position.

Germany continued to dominate in the second half. Jamal Musiala danced past four Japanese players, but blazed his shot over the bar. Then Gündogan almost scored his second goal of the game when he hit the post.

Missed opportunities

In the 70^th minute Germany had several chances to kill off the game. Gonda saved in a one-on-one against Hofmann and parried a follow-up shot from Serge Gnabry. The ball fell to Raum who found Gnabry with his cross, but the Japanese keeper was able to push the ball away.

Just minutes later Japan had their best chance of the game when Manuel Neuer denied Junya Ito. But Germany failed to heed the warning and Freiburg midfielder Ritsu Doan, who had only been on the field for four minutes, equalised after Neuer was only able to parry Takumi Minamino’s cross. Just seven minutes later the seemingly impossible happened. Ko Itakura played a long free kick deep into the German half. Nico Schlotterbeck hesitated and was outpaced by Takuma Asano, who slammed the ball past Neuer from a tight angle to give Japan a shock lead.

Substitute Leon Goretzka had a late chance to equalise, but it was not to be as a series of substitutions left Germany disjointed. It is the second time in a row that Germany has lost its opening game at the FIFA World Cup. They now face a mountain to climb in order to qualify from Group E.

The line-ups

Germany: Neuer, Süle, Rüdiger, Schlotterbeck, Raum, Kimmich, Gündogan (Goretzka), Gnabry (Moukoko), Havertz (Füllkrug), Musiala (Götze), Müller (Hofmann).

Japan: Gonda, Sakai (Minamino), Yoshida, Itakura, Nagatomo (Mitoma), Endo, Tanaka (Doan), Ito, Kamada, Kubo (Tomiyasu), Maeda (Asano).

Japan started with five players who are active in Germany: Ko Itakura (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Maya Yoshida (Schalke), Yasuhito Endo (Stuttgart), Daichi Kamada (Frankfurt) and Ao Tanaka (Düsseldorf). Three other Germany-based players started on the bench Takuma Asano (Bochum), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart) and Ritsu Doan (Freiburg).

A protest against FIFA

As expected, Manuel Neuer did not wear the OneLove armband following the threat of FIFA sanctions. But the German players registered their protest before the game. For the obligatory pre-match team photo, the players covered their mouths with their hands as a message to FIFA, although the protest was not seen on television.

Captains of nine countries, including Harry Kane and Gareth Bale, had signalled their intention to wear the rainbow armband, but ultimately decided against it as FIFA threatened a “massive sanction” which could have involved players receiving yellow cards, points deductions or even expulsion from the tournament. Captains of the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Wales and Denmark had also planned to wear the armband.

After the climbdown over the OneLove armband, German supermarket chain REWE reacted by ending its sponsorship deal with the German FA. In turn, the DFB has stated that it plans to implement legal action against FIFA. German Football Association spokesman Stefan Simon said: “FIFA has forbidden us from using a symbol of diversity and human rights. It said the ban would be linked to massive penalties (in the nature of) sporting sanctions without concretising exactly what it meant.”