Germany was ready to beat but Japan performed the miracle and gave the second shot of the World Cup

For decades, German tailors have made a habit of making candidate suits for their country’s national football players every four years. This time the Teutons arrived in Qatar in more modest clothes, accompanied by a dull recent record, questioned by the press and ignored by many fans, who even asked not to follow the matches on television repudiating human rights violations that have been committed, they blame the organizing country. With this sea of ​​background, the four-time world champions failed on the first pass: with a match of clubs and sticks in the first half and a puncture in the complementary match, they fell 2-1 against Japan and complicated their future in group E.

Hansi flick He dazzled during the year and a half he was in charge of Bayern Munich. Since he replaced Joachim Löw (whom he had been a collaborator with) in the national team, after the elimination in last year’s Euro Cup round of 16, his challenge has been twofold: to consolidate the renewal process of the old guard that the title in Brazil 2014 (and which he defeated in Russia 2018) and give his seal to a team that for some time has made the associated game, and no longer physical power, its watchword.

Of five rookies in one World Cup (Schlotterbeck, Raum, Gnabry, Musiala and Havertz) Flick bet for a duel in which his team imposed its own entry rule against a team consisting of four men active in the Bundesliga (Yoshida, Endo, Itakura and Kamada) and one in the 2.Bundesliga (Tanaka). With that Napoleonic premise of dressing slowly because they’re in a hurry, the European cast had patience in handling a dance they administered with infantile selfishness: he almost didn’t let his rival touch him in the first chapter. As if the Adidas Al Rihla were made of iron and the Germans had magnets in their boots, the tool traveled between their feet as the Japanese pursued without success. In that ballet the young Musiala stood out, called to make crack at just 19 years old.

A penalty converted by Gundogan, after an infringement by goalkeeper Gonda on Raum, gave Germany a 1-0 lead into half-time. And a first quarter of an hour to the same melody of the supplement, with Gonda rolling over to avoid another fall from her enclosure, made even the most optimistic of the vivacious Japanese who occupied the stands of the Khalifa International Stadium imagine that on the night of Qatar would end up being one long party. But the Mannschaft allowed it.

Hajime Moriyasu got it right with modifications to shake off the rust from his team’s attack. But the greening of the impetuous Asians was made possible by aA notable drop in Flick’s team, who lost the monopoly on the ball and showed cracks in defense. As much as he could, Neuer, one of the four survivors of the sample cast in Brazil, supported him. But in an eight-minute burst it was shot since Blue samurai thanks to two freshmen who also play in the Bundesliga: Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano.

Push, carelessness and frustration gave Germany until the final whistle of the Salvadoran Iván Barton who gave the Japanese party the green light and condemned the Third debut with defeat for the Germans in his 20th World Cup appearance. In Spain 1982 they lost 2-1 to Algeria and finished as runners-up. In Russia 2018 they lost 1-0 against Mexico and ended up signing their worst participation, eliminated in the group stage. That harsh memory, which seemed erased after a first half of the dreams, ended up being recalled after this blow.