Germany star Rudiger made to look silly as Japan showboating backfires

Gary Lineker hits out at BBC over past World Cup coverage

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Germany star Antonio Rudiger was made to look silly during his side’s 2-1 World Cup defeat to Japan on Wednesday. Ilkay Gundogan gave Hansi Flick’s side the lead in the first half, before two second-half goals from the Japanese side completed a stunning comeback.

The Real Madrid defender chased down a long ball as he moved in front of Takuma Asano in the race, and opted to change his running stance in a way that fans described as showboating. However the Japan side had the last laugh as they then scored twice to claim all three points.

Manchester City midfielder Gundogan gave the Germans the lead from the penalty spot after David Raum was brought down in the box by the goalkeeper, but the Japan side countered well in the second half and got their equaliser when three of Hajime Moriyasu’s substitutes combined for Ritsu Doan to finish past Manuel Neuer.

Then stunning scenes saw Asano get his revenge over Rudiger as he latched onto a through ball, having been kept onside by Borussia Dortmund defender Niklas Sule, and finished powerfully past the goalkeeper.

Rudiger did get ahead of Asano and was able to guide the long ball out for a goal kick, prompting fans to praise the former Chelsea man for his unorthodox running style as he powered ahead of the forward.

However he was powerless to stop a resurgent Japan side that got the win and put Germany into a difficult position already in the World Cup as they next face Spain and are yet to get a point on the board.

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Japan top the group with Spain and Costa Rica yet to kick off, and face those two sides as they hope to avoid a repeat of the 2018 competition.

In Russia, Joachim Low’s side finished bottom of a group that consisted of themselves, Sweden, Mexico and South Korea and the pain has been used as motivation for this year’s campaign according to several German players.

“The motivation is huge,” Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich said ahead of the match against Japan. “We know that was nothing, that was terrible what happened. We’ve had quite the wait – four and a half years. The first game is very important; we’ve seen that in previous tournaments. At the Euros we lost the first game and didn’t win [the title].”

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