Japan wants to be the great outsider of this World Cup. Moriyasu’s men defeated a harmless Tunisia with great authority in an example of the punch and dominance of the Japanese team. Kamada led the way at the beginning of the match and Ueda, with a double, and Ito, delved into the wounds of a Tunisia that mathematically said goodbye to the World Cup.
Moriyasu’s people did not speculate at any time. Japan came out determined to do damage from the first minute and demonstrated this with an initial rush in which they could have put a lot of dirt in the way. A dizzying transition by the Japanese from wing to wing left only Nakamura who, from the left, put a candy inside the area so that Kamada, with his backheel, raised the score to 0-1 four minutes into the match.
The scare for Tunisia would not end there. Before the first ten minutes were up, Bronn had already saved Kamada’s second goal when the Palace player was already licking his lips to push a delivery from Ueda. Furthermore, Dahmen starred in a ‘goal value’ intervention by saving a ball on the very goal line. A play that had to be reviewed in the VAR because the size margin with which the ball was above the lime line was minimal.
Renard’s men did not know how to react at any time to the attacks and dominance of the Japanese. Japan slowed down a bit after taking the lead, but continued to monopolize ball possession. So we reached half an hour into the game. Moment where Ueda, after stealing the ball in the middle of the field and driving several meters towards the goal, ended up taking a whip from the front that ended up slipping through the long post of Dahmen’s goal, who could not do anything.
The pace at the end of the first half continued for the first tens of minutes of the second half. Tunisia, despite Renard’s modifications in attack, failed to find solutions to try to generate danger in the Japanese area. Japan, meanwhile, tried to slow down the match. Until the 70th minute arrived. In just three passes, Moriyasu’s men went one-on-one against Dahmen… and Junya Ito did not forgive.
Japan, despite dosing efforts in the final stretch, was able to increase the victory. A somewhat forced header from Ueda to a Sano center ended up entering the Tunisian goal to the expectation of the African defense, who could not quite believe how that lofted shot would end up in the back of the net.