I need to watch that game to see what the heck happened. Germany had 26 shots and 75% possession, but Japan had a reasonable number of shots (12?). I'm guessing it was a bunker and counter thing, which is a tried-and-true way to get an upset on what on paper is a better team. That's the way CA plays too.
Sure, an upset like Saudi Arabia is entertaining (minus the fact that their new prime minister chops up journalists). But in general, when FIFA expands the field to so many more lower quality teams, I assume that scores of 7-1 and 6-0 will be common in WC 2026. And those kinds of games are just not entertaining to watch.
The 1H for Japan was absolutely horrendous. It was like they were afraid of playing against these big huge guys, and they barely got out of their half of the field. Then, i don't know what happened after the half. They came out playing the way they did against USMNT. They played the disciplined but attacking kind of soccer they can play, and they even won a lot of headers against the Germans. Remember, in WC 2018, Japan almost beat Belgium. So they are not a bad team.
Germany had tons of chances and should have been up 4-0 in the first half but then got the wrath of the soccer gods and got punished for all the missed opportunities. Japanese efficiency > German efficiency...today at least
It didn't just sound like a disaster, it was one. Calvo is not a good player. I think it's that simple. Whatever good qualities he has are drowned out by the incredibly long list of bad qualities, the two more paramount being his incredibly unpredictable nature (not something you want in a defender), and his inability to defend one on one. Costa Rica is not the team they used to be, and I think it says a lot about how much of a slump they are in as a nation when they have to include Calvo on their roster. Then again, Costa Rica is a nation of 5 million people in a region that has nations of tens and hundreds of millions of people. It's amazing they are as good as they are. But Calvo is not among their good players.
Yeah it looked like one of those games where it could have been 6-0 on another day. But near miss after near miss after near miss left the door open and Japan starting using their speed to really put the pressure on.
I hope to see the US win 7-1 or 6-0 at the World Cup some day. And I am sure I will find it entertaining.