JAPAN COME FROM BEHIND TO SHOCK GERMANY

November 23rd, 2022 World Cup 2022 comments

LIVE: JAPAN COME FROM BEHIND TO SHOCK GERMANY

We have reached day four of the World Cup and there are four more matches coming our way from Qatar today.

Follow it all live here.

Germany v Japan

Scorers: Gündoğan (pen) 33′; Doan 75′, Asano 83′

Japan appeared to have scored the World Cup’s first goal on Wednesday but the offside flag went up against Celtic’s Daizen Maeda after he got himself on the end of a cross to beat Manuel Neuer.

Germany stepped up the pace after that rocky start, with left-back David Raum a constant threat, and he was decisive in winning a penalty on the half hour mark as he was brought down by Japan goalkeeper Shūichi Gonda. İlkay Gündoğan made no mistake from the spot, calmly placing the ball down the middle.

Harmless long-range efforts from Gündoğan and Jamal Musiala followed but Joshua Kimmich did test the goalkeeper right on half-time. With his effort parried, Serge Gnabry’s rebound was tapped in by Kai Havertz, only for a VAR check to rule the goal out for offside.

Germany picked up where they left off in the second half, with Serge Gnabry finding space on the right and clipping the bar with an effort less than two minutes after the restart before Bayern Munich team-mate fired over following a superb solo run minutes later.

Another Gündoğan effort found the edge of the post just before the hour mark with Germany continuing to push for a second goal.

Jonas Hofmann and Serge Gnabry where next to test Gonda in goal but he was equal to their efforts from close range, with Japan still in the game as the closing stages approach.

With Germany struggling to make their dominance count, Japan are still in the game and a superb Manuel Neuer save was needed to deny Junya Ito before the rebound was fired over.

That, though, was just a warning and an equaliser did arrive moments later. Some fine work down the left saw the ball flash across goal and Neuer parried the cross right to Ritsu Doan, who fired home.

They weren’t done there and survived a small Germany response before catching the favourites’ backline out with a long ball. Takuma Asano gave chase and held off Nico Schlotterbeck before firing beyond Manuel Neuer from a tight angle.

Group F opener ends in stalemate

Morocco and Croatia played out the third goalless draw of the World Cup so far to kick-off day four of the tournament.

Despite a noisy atmosphere at Al Bayt Stadium, chances for both sides were at a premium and neither ever truly looked like breaking the deadlock.

And it was more bad news for Bayern Munich, with Noussair Mazraoui forced to go off injured for Morocco in the second half.

Both teams exchanged blows in a tight opening period, with Ivan Perišić firing over the bar for Croatia and Hakim Ziyech blasting a free-kick into the wall for Morocco.

The clearest opening of the first half came just before half-time, when Croatia forward Nikola Vlašić forced Morocco goalkeeper Bono into a reaction save from close range.

Morocco were dealt a blow in the second half when left-back Mazraoui had to limp off injured. Yahia Attiyat Allah came on to replace him.

Achraf Hakimi then stung the palms of Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković with a fiercely struck free-kick, but 0-0 was how it finished.