DAIZEN MAEDA and his Japanese team-mates suffered World Cup heartache in Houston tonight when they crashed out of the competition in dramatic circumstances.
The game against Brazil was tied at 1-1 five minutes into stoppage-time when Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli pounced to thump in the winner to punish some rare slack play in the opponents’ defence.
The Japanese were leading 1-0 at the interval through a superb goal from Kaishu Sana in the 29th minute.
He swept away from Carlos Casemiro to race towards the danger zone. As defenders backed up, he suddenly unleashed a vicious low drive that zipped past the diving Alison Becker to his right.
The five-times winners of the trophy were stunned, but their efforts to get back on even terms before the interval were repelled by a well-drilled Japanese side.
ADVERTISEMENT
Carlo Ancelotti’s men were out of luck when they struck the woodwork in the 34th minute when Zion Suzuki managed to deflect a shot from Vinicius Junior onto his left-hand post.
Casemiro had better fortune when he levelled with a close-range header 11 minutes after the break.
Meada and Co were on the backfoot for most of the remainder of the encounter, but it looked as though they had done enough to take the game to extra-time until Martinelli struck the killer goal with just a minute of added-on time to play.
Click Here for Comments >