Failed to stage surprise again! Japan lost to Croatia!
In this year’s World Cup, Japan has repeatedly staged surprising dramas. In the group stage, Japan has successively defeated Spain and Germany, two traditional football powerhouses. Their miraculous performance has been dubbed the “Champion Killer” by fans. It’s a pity that in the knockout round of 16, facing the previous runner-up Croatia, Japan failed to stage another surprise. The two teams drew 1-1 in the regular season, and both sides failed to score in overtime. They played their first match in the Qatar World Cup. In the end, Japan lost 1-3 to Croatia and missed the ticket to the top 8.
Looking back at this game, although Japan had an offensive in the first half, it was repeatedly blocked by Croatia. Until the 43rd minute, Daizen Maeda received an assist from his teammates and successfully scored the goal to help the Japanese team take the lead. It is worth mentioning that this goal is also the first time the Japanese team scored first in this World Cup. In the 56th minute of the second half, Croatia equalized the game with a header from Ivan Perisic. Afterward, with a score of 1-1, they entered a 30-minute overtime but still failed to decide the winner.
Croatia seized the first, second, and fourth goals, while Japan only scored the third goal with Takuma Asano. In the end, Japan still could not seize the opportunity to break into the top 8 for the first time. In the past, Japan also had a match with Paraguay in the round of 16 of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, and the result was a bitter defeat. Together with this match with Croatia, they suffered two consecutive losses.