World Cup 2022 resident giant-killers Japan will attempt to pull off another remarkable upset when they face Croatia in the round of 16 on Monday at the Al Janoub Stadium....CONTINUE READING
The men of Hajime Moriyasu finished top in Group E, ahead of Spain and Germany, while the 2018 runners-up had to settle for second place in Group F, behind Morocco.
Romelu Lukaku had a lot of great chances to score against Croatia, but for some reason he didn’t take any of them. If he had, the Chequered Ones might have been on their way out of the tournament.
When Ao Tanaka was in the right place at the right time to score Japan’s second goal in their 2-1 win over Spain, there were cameras everywhere. Spain had taken the lead against the Asian country before Moriyasu’s substitutions at halftime paid off again.
Alvaro Morata scored for Spain after just 11 minutes, but Ritsu Doan quickly tied the game with a fierce goal. Kaoru Mitoma, who was also replaced at halftime, just kept the ball in play long enough for Shinji Tanaka to score the winner and send Japan to the round of 16 in dramatic fashion.
Any team that beats the 2010 and 2014 world champions in the same tournament deserves to be in the knockout rounds, and Japan has finally broken the cycle of making it to the last 16 and then leaving in the group stage. They also made it to the knockout rounds four years ago in Russia.
The Samurai Blue are far from finished, as shown by their disappointing 1-0 loss to Costa Rica on match day two. However, they could now set up an all-Asian quarter-final with South Korea, though their neighbours must first beat Brazil in their last-16 match.
Japan hasn’t made it to the quarterfinals of a World Cup yet, and they’re used to having their backs against the wall. They’ve only had 32.3% possession on average in Qatar so far, and Moriyasu’s super subs need to keep doing what they’ve been doing to make history on Monday.
Josko Gvardiol, a rising star at RB Leipzig, helped Zlatko Dalic’s team get through with his steady defence. The result was a 0-0 draw, which helped the 2018 runners-up finish second in Group F behind Morocco and make it into the knockout rounds.
