Japan’s national coach Hajime Moriyasu sees the surprising World Cup success over former world champions Germany as a reason for a tactical trick.
The 54-year-old substituted a central defender for a winger at half-time despite falling behind in Al-Rajjan.
“We knew we had to focus more on defence. That’s why I changed the system. The players knew straight away what I meant by that and how they should behave,” said Moriyasu after the 2-1 (0-1) thanks to the goals of the two jokers Ritsu Doan (75th minute) and Takuma Asano (83rd).
Japan now has an excellent chance of reaching the round of 16 like in 2018 and thus eliminating one of the two former champions Spain or Germany in the preliminary round.
“We celebrated a great win but it’s still going. We’ll prepare for the next game just as well,” said Moriyasu. The duel with Costa Rica is scheduled for November 27 (11 a.m. / ZDF and MagentaTV).