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Japan Upsets Germany in 2–1 Defeat

Talented Spain team hit 7 past Costa Rica

Manny Otiko
3 min readNov 24, 2022
Japan celebrates victory over Germany. (Photo by Manny Otiko.)

It was another day of shocks at the World Cup. And the biggest shock was when Germany, a four-time champion, went down 2–1 to Japan. There was a time not too long ago when Germany were perennial favorites to win the World Cup. But the team is currently in a rebuilding stage after they were eliminated from the first round in the 2018 World Cup. That ended the long reign of Joachim Low, who guided the team to victory in the 2014 World Cup.

Apparently, there’s still some rebuilding to do. Even though the German squad boasted talents such as Ilkay Gundogan, Jamal Musiala, Serge Gnabry and Kai Havertz, they were outpaced and out-hustled by an energetic Japanese team. Japan is known for producing skillful and nimble players who are often out-muscled by stronger opponents. But they used that to their advantage against Germany, and their tireless running eventually paid off.

Japanese Persistence Pays Off

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Manny Otiko
Manny Otiko

Written by Manny Otiko

Manny Otiko writes about race, politics and sports. He has been published in Salon and LA Weekly. Follow him at @mannyotiko.bsky.social

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