Japan stunned the world on Wednesday by overturning a one goal deficit to beat Germany.
The Asian nation were big underdogs heading into the Group E opener against the four-time world champions.
Even more so once Ilkay Gundogan converted from the penalty spot to give the Germans the lead.
However, Japan rallied in the second half and showed character by the bucket load as they led siege to Hansi Flick’s backline and eventually got their reward.
Goals from Ritsu Doan in the 75th minute and Takumi Asano in the 83rd were enough to secure a shock victory for the nation.
And with three points now in the bag, Japan will surely fancy themselves to beat Costa Rice and secure qualification to the knockout phase of the competition despite being drawn into arguably the toughest group of the lot.
Ousmane Dembele’s reaction to Japan’s victory
It was the second huge shock of the World Cup to date, after Saudi Arabia also sealed an impressive comeback victory against Argentina a day prior.
Fans across the world could barely believe either result – and it seems French star Dembele was no different.
Dembele was in a press conference kitted out in his France gear and had obviously missed the game.
When he was notified of Japan’s 2-1 victory, the shock on his face was clear for all to see.
Check out the video below.
WATCH: Dembele’s reaction to Japan’s victory
Ousmane Dembélé’s reaction to hearing that Japan have beaten Germany 😂 pic.twitter.com/4GrzRsuv99
— 𝙾𝙳⁷🇨🇵 (@Dembouz_Era) November 23, 2022
Dembele’s reaction after knowing the result of the Japan-Germany match. pic.twitter.com/JBTwUo7oFO
— Fast GøaIs (@i6astv) November 23, 2022
Yes, that is correct Ousmane, Germany were in fact defeated by Japan.
The loss means the four-time world champions effectively need a result against Spain in their next group match on Sunday evening.
Fail to win and they could find themselves with zero hope of progressing heading into their final match vs Costa Rica next week.
Try not to think too hard on the fact Spain are coming off the back of a 7-0 annihilation of Costa Rica, ey Germany?
They’ll need to be bang at it if they want to keep their World Cup dreams alive past the group stage.
