Japan’s penalty shootout defeat to Croatia followed by Brazil’s solid 4-1 win over South Korea have ended Asian hopes at the World Cup in Qatar.
The earlier loss by Australia to Argentina in the group of 16 knockouts means that all three Asian Football Confederation teams have now been eliminated in the first knockout round of the World Cup.
But the Samurai Blue and the Taegeuk Warriors have much to be proud of, not least Japan’s shock upsets in winning matches against European heavyweights Germany (2-1) and Spain (2-1) in the group stage, and South Korea’s stunning 2-1 win over Portugal.
Japan’s Nikkei Asia news organisation had described Monday’s games as “one of the biggest nights in Asian soccer for two decades” and South Korea’s Yonhap news agency wrote of the unlikely journey of the national team to the knockout stage of the World Cup in what had become a “memorable underdog story”.
Ultimately, both intrepid campaigns came to an end as the East Asian footballing giants were unable to progress to the quarter-finals.
Japan have been to the first group-of-16 knockout round three times in six trips to the World Cup finals but have never gone any further, a state of affairs Japan’s coach Hajime Moriyasu had committed his players to rectifying in Qatar despite a tough draw in the group stage.
As group winners in Qatar and defeating two former world champions in the process, Japan went through to face a streetwise Croatian team on Monday and after 120 minutes of play and a 1-1 draw, the Japanese faltered and went down 3-1 on penalties.
“I think the regret we feel with this loss will lead to something better in the years to come,” said fullback Yuto Nagatomo, who was playing his fourth and probably final World Cup.
“We were able to show the Japanese people’s fighting spirit. It was difficult to lose but Japanese football is without a doubt, making progress,” he said.
