Day 4 of the ongoing FIFA World Cup taking place in Qatar produced excitement, shock, beautiful football and a whole lot of fun.
The matchday witnessed four games from two different groups – Group E and F – with the shock result of the day being the unprecedented 2-1 triumph of Japan over the star-studded German team.
Being the first match of the day, the Group F encounter between Morocco and Croatia, ended in a goalless draw.
The Moroccans approached the game more conservatively, defending deep. Of course, Croatia – 2018 World Cup finalists – were always going to have more of the possession. However, the Croats couldn’t make their 65% possession count and didn’t even have as many attempts on goal as the North African nation.
Japan beats Germany
In the second game of the day, kicked off at 2pm (WAT), Die Mannschaft looked destined to beat their counterparts. The Germans were impressive and deservedly went ahead when Ilkay Gündoğan scored from the spot in the 33rd minute. Despite abundantly dominating proceedings for long moments, Germany could not make their control count by extending the lead.
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The dramatic turnaround for Japan began when 24-year-old winger Ritsu Dōan fired past Manuel Neuer in the 75th minute. Eight minutes later VfL Bochum forward Takuma Asano scored the winner in a truly enthralling Group E match. It was indeed an unbelievable start to Japan’s 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup campaign.
Prior to the encounter, Germany coach Hansi Flick stated that Japan’s squad had all the qualities required to give his team a difficult time when they clash.
Interestingly, Spain followed up the Germany-Japan blockbuster with a complete demolition of Costa Rica. La Roja annihilated their Central American opponents 7-0 in the one-sided affair.
RB Leipzig forward Dami Olmo and Marco Asensio scored in the 11th and 21st minutes respectively. Ferran Torres added a third from the spot before netting his second and Spain’s fourth nine minutes after the restart.
Barcelona midfielder and reigning “Golden Boy” awardee Gavi and Carlos Soler also scored before Alvaro Morata completed the rout.
In another Group F game, Belgium grabbed all three points following a tight 1-0 win over Canada. Michy Batshuayi scored the only goal of the match just before halftime. Highly rated Bayern Munich full back, Alphonso Davies had earlier missed a penalty that could have put the Canadians ahead.
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