DOHA, Qatar – On Wednesday, Germany lost its World Cup debut against Japan, joining Argentina in the losing camp of a growing narrative about the competition: the favorites may not be as far ahead of the competition as they believed. 

After Argentina was shocked by Saudi Arabia in one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, France fell behind Australia before coming back to win, and Croatia settled for a scoreless draw against hapless Morocco, Germany lost to Japan by a score of 2-1.

Highlights from the Germany vs. Japan matchup from the FIFA World Cup 2022: Japan outplayed four-time champions Germany in the Group E opener at the Khalifa International Stadium. Germany is stunned by Japan’s two late goals in the

For the first time at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, defending champions Germany took center stage as the team, coached by Hansi Flick, faced off against Asian powerhouse Japan on Wednesday. In the previous match between Germany and Japan, Ilkay Gundogan opened the score for Germany in the first half. 

Die Mannschaft, the 2014 FIFA World Cup champions, were aiming for an easy victory over Japan in their Group E opening at the Khalifa International Stadium. At the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, the Asian heavyweights managed to pull off another enormous upset thanks to two late goals from Japan. Japan won its opening match 2-1 over Germany to take all three points.

The setback for Germany also obscured an earlier piece of news—a pregame protest by Germany’s whole starting lineup—and plunged a group into disarray that had appeared foreseeable. 

Ilkay Gundogan, a German football player and captain of Manchester City, converted a penalty kick in the 33rd minute to score his team’s first goal of the match. 

Ritsu Doan scored the team’s first goal in the 75th minute after the Japanese team failed to find an equalizer during the first half of the game.

Additionally, Takuma Asano scored Japan’s second goal in the 83rd minute, giving the nation’s supporters new optimism that their team will advance past the group round. 

Japan proved to be a formidable opponent for Germany, one of the fans’ favored teams to advance in the World Cup.

Germany, Japan, Spain, and Costa Rica are all in Group E of the World Cup. 

Japan will compete against Costa Rica on November 27 and Spain in December, while Germany will compete against Spain on November 27 and Costa Rica on December 1.