Japan stuns Colombia to win 2-1, after Colombia suffers an early Red Card

  • Japan registers a dramatic win against Colombia. 
  • Colombia reduces to 10 men, after Referee showed Red card to Sanchez.
  • Kagawa and Osako score for Japan, Quintero scores for Colombia.

Japan registers a dramatic win against Colombia in opener of Group H. Japan became first Asian nation have ever to beat a latin American nation in the World Cup.

Red-card

The match saw dramatic turn around throughout. As early as third minute to the start, , Osako’s volley was saved by Colombia Goalkeeper Ospina and Kagawa’s shot on rebound, was blocked by Sanchez with his arm extended to air. Earlier, the referee showed a direct red card to Sanchez as he stopped the goal-bound ball in the middle of Colombia box. This is the second fastest red card in the history of World Cup, with fastest being at 56th seconds.

Goals

Shinji Kagawa took the low penalty to give Japan 1-0 lead. Despite of being down to 10 men, Colombia fought back. Later, Quintero scored from a low freekick under the Japaneese wall at 38′.  The decision for the freekick was controversial, as player from both the sides fell on eachother while tangling for the ball. The Japanese side protested as they thought the Kawashima, the Japanese Goalie has stopped the ball before the line. Goal Line Technology (GLT) was referred which clearly showed the ball had crossed the Goal-line.

 Substitutions

At 59th minute of the game, James Rodríguez was brought into attack substituting Quintero, the goal scorer. At 7oth minute of the game Bacca was introduced in place of Izquierdo. Japan also substituted goal scorer Shinji Kagawa with Honda. Japan also had two more substitutions at the end of the game.

The Decider

At 73rd minute, Japan got a corner at left flank. Osako scored with a header from a curling corner kick from substitute Honda.

After the goal, Colombia tried to equalise and came close to scoring couple of times, with Falcao taking extraordinary  workload, but the shortage of one man had significant impact on their game. The early red-card decided the fate of the game. Colombia lost in their first world cup match which was captained by Falcao.

Both the Japanese scorers play in Bundesliga along with other players. They will meet Poland and Senegal in their subsequent games in the Group H, which has now become most interesting to watch.

Match Highlights: Japan vs Colombia

Man of the Match: Yuya Osako