Germany were beaten in their first international fixture of the season. Hansi Flick’s side were handed a 4-1 defeat by Japan at a sold-out Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg.
Jun’ya Ito fired Japan into the lead in front of the 24,980 spectators (11’). Leroy Sané got the equaliser (19’), but Japan restored their lead almost immediately after the restart through Ayase Uda (22’). VfL Bochum’s Takuma Asano sealed things late on (90’), with Ao Tanaka’s injury time goal adding to Germany’s misery (92’).
Havertz misses early chance
Flick made five changes to the team who started Germany’s last international against Colombia. Marc-André ter Stegen was between the sticks, with Nico Schlotterbeck, Antonio Rüdiger, Niklas Süle and Joshua Kimmich forming the defence in front of him. Ilkay Gündogan and Emre Can formed a double pivot behind Florian Wirtz in attacking midfield and wingers Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry. Kai Havertz led the line.
Germany looked impressive initially and put the opposition under pressure immediately. They won the ball in the opposition box early on. Sané quickly latched onto the ball and played it into the area. However, Havertz couldn’t control the ball and the chance went begging.
Ito punishes Germany
Japan took their first real opportunity of the game to go ahead. Yukinari Sugawara was afforded too much space down the right wing and put in a low cross towards the near post. Ito got there before Rüdiger and found the back of the net via a deflection off the Germany defender.
Germany responded brilliantly to going behind thanks to a lovely move. Wirtz played it to Sané and he kept his cool to slot it past Keisuke Osako for 1-1.
Japan ahead at the break
Despite this equaliser, Germany didn’t manage to take control of the game and were quickly trailing once again. Another ball in from the right wing saw Ueda put it past ter Stegen from close range.
The visiting side could have increased their lead too before the interval following a defensive mix-up between Schlotterbeck and Rüdiger. Ueda burst in behind, only to see Germany’s goalkeeper make a fine save with his legs to deny him (41’). At the other end, Sané was bearing down on goal and ready to pull the trigger, but Takehiro Tomiyasu got back to make a crucial sliding tackle to prevent him from shooting (45’).
Second half belongs to Japan
The second 45 minutes began just as the first 45 finished – with a mistake from the German defence. Ter Stegen passed the ball straight to Ito, who curled his effort just wide from just outside the box (46’). Two minutes later, the Barcelona ‘keeper rushed off his line to deny Ueda, before Morita’s follow-up attempt hit the side-netting (48’).
Germany struggled massively against the Japanese back-five and therefore created few chances after the break. One of note was Serge Gnabry’s blocked effort in the 50th minute.
Ter Stegen was regularly called upon and was responsible for keeping Germany in the game for so long, making saves from Asano and Mitoma shots (70’). However, he couldn’t prevent two late goals for Japan. Robin Gosens’ error proved costly with a minute to play, as Japan quickly countered and made it 3-1 as Kubo unselfishly squared it for Asano. There was still time for a fourth Japan goal, courtesy of Tanaka’s header in the second minute of injury time.
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Germany were beaten in their first international fixture of the season. Hansi Flick’s side were handed a 4-1 defeat by Japan at a sold-out Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg.
Jun’ya Ito fired Japan into the lead in front of the 24,980 spectators (11’). Leroy Sané got the equaliser (19’), but Japan restored their lead almost immediately after the restart through Ayase Uda (22’). VfL Bochum’s Takuma Asano sealed things late on (90’), with Ao Tanaka’s injury time goal adding to Germany’s misery (92’).
Havertz misses early chance
Flick made five changes to the team who started Germany’s last international against Colombia. Marc-André ter Stegen was between the sticks, with Nico Schlotterbeck, Antonio Rüdiger, Niklas Süle and Joshua Kimmich forming the defence in front of him. Ilkay Gündogan and Emre Can formed a double pivot behind Florian Wirtz in attacking midfield and wingers Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry. Kai Havertz led the line.
Germany looked impressive initially and put the opposition under pressure immediately. They won the ball in the opposition box early on. Sané quickly latched onto the ball and played it into the area. However, Havertz couldn’t control the ball and the chance went begging.
Ito punishes Germany
Japan took their first real opportunity of the game to go ahead. Yukinari Sugawara was afforded too much space down the right wing and put in a low cross towards the near post. Ito got there before Rüdiger and found the back of the net via a deflection off the Germany defender.
Germany responded brilliantly to going behind thanks to a lovely move. Wirtz played it to Sané and he kept his cool to slot it past Keisuke Osako for 1-1.
Japan ahead at the break
Despite this equaliser, Germany didn’t manage to take control of the game and were quickly trailing once again. Another ball in from the right wing saw Ueda put it past ter Stegen from close range.
The visiting side could have increased their lead too before the interval following a defensive mix-up between Schlotterbeck and Rüdiger. Ueda burst in behind, only to see Germany’s goalkeeper make a fine save with his legs to deny him (41’). At the other end, Sané was bearing down on goal and ready to pull the trigger, but Takehiro Tomiyasu got back to make a crucial sliding tackle to prevent him from shooting (45’).
Second half belongs to Japan
The second 45 minutes began just as the first 45 finished – with a mistake from the German defence. Ter Stegen passed the ball straight to Ito, who curled his effort just wide from just outside the box (46’). Two minutes later, the Barcelona ‘keeper rushed off his line to deny Ueda, before Morita’s follow-up attempt hit the side-netting (48’).
Germany struggled massively against the Japanese back-five and therefore created few chances after the break. One of note was Serge Gnabry’s blocked effort in the 50th minute.
Ter Stegen was regularly called upon and was responsible for keeping Germany in the game for so long, making saves from Asano and Mitoma shots (70’). However, he couldn’t prevent two late goals for Japan. Robin Gosens’ error proved costly with a minute to play, as Japan quickly countered and made it 3-1 as Kubo unselfishly squared it for Asano. There was still time for a fourth Japan goal, courtesy of Tanaka’s header in the second minute of injury time.
