Japan managed to take down Goliath on Wednesday, and the local call of the winning goal made the moment even better.
In their Group E opening match at the World Cup in Qatar, Japan toppled heavily-favored Germany by a 2-1 final.
Japan fell behind 1-0 early after conceding an İlkay Gündoğan penalty kick goal in the 33rd minute. But it battled back with an equalizer by substitute Ritso Doan in the 75th minute. Then in the 83rd minute, Japan’s Takuma Asano, who was another late sub, controlled the ball off a free kick and deposited it in the top shelf of the net, beating famed German keeper Manuel Neuer.
Here is the awesome local call in Japan of both goals, including the eventual winner by Asano.
You can view a longer call of the Asano goal (with English subtitles) here.
Germany has posted a top-three finish in four of the last five World Cups (including winning it all in 2014). It also hadn’t lost a World Cup match when leading at halftime since 1974 (a streak of 21 straight contests).
But none of that deterred Japan, who pulled off one of the upsets of the tournament so far, along with Saudi Arabia’s improbable win over Argentina on Tuesday. But perhaps we should not be surprised since Japan has a rich history of these kinds of special moments at the World Cup.
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