Hajime Moriyasu, coach of Japan’s national team, praised his team’s historic victory over Germany, at the start of the two teams’ journey to the FIFA World Cup finals, which are currently being held in Qatar.
Japan overturned its 0-1 deficit in the first half of its meeting with Germany, after scoring two goals in the second half, to defeat it 2-1 today, Wednesday, in the first round of the fifth group matches of the World Cup group stage, which also includes Spain and Costa Rica.
Moriyasu’s substitutions contributed to the uprising of the Japanese national team in the second half, after substitutes Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano, who play in the German Football League (Bundesliga), scored the goals of the Asian team in the 75th and 83rd minutes, respectively.
“We knew we had to defend better,” Moriyasu said after the match. “That’s why I changed the style of play. The players immediately knew what I meant and what was the best way to deal with the Germans.”
Moriyasu expressed his aspiration for the team’s next match against Costa Rica in the second round of the group, next Sunday, when he said, “We celebrated this great victory, but we must prepare for the next confrontation.”
For his part, Maya Yoshida, the Japan national team player, told BN Sports after the match, “This is the beauty of football. Sometimes these things happen!” We managed to grab the spotlight, now it’s time to dance.”
This is the first victory for Japan in the history of its meetings with the German national team.
In its 22nd match in the World Cup, the Japanese national team, which is participating in the World Cup for the seventh time in its history, achieved its sixth victory in its career in the tournament, which began in 1998, against 5 draws and 11 losses.
