Doha, Qatar—Another day of the World Cup, another surprise.

DOHA, Qatar—AAnother day of the World Cup, another surprise.

Substitutes Japan defeated Germany 2-1 on Wednesday thanks to late goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano.

Doan and Asano both compete for German teams.

"I think it's a historic occasion and a historic triumph. If I consider the growth of Japanese soccer from the perspective of the players, they were really surprised by this," said Japan's head coach, Hajime Moriyasu, who started five players from Germany and left three, including the goal scorers, on the bench.

"They compete in a very competitive, formidable league. They have been strengthening themselves. In light of this, we think that the Bundesliga and Second Division have aided in the development of Japanese players," said Moriyasu. "I'm quite appreciative of that."

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With a penalty kick in the first half, Ilkay Gündogan gave four-time champion Germany the lead. Takumi Minamino's attempt was denied by Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the 76th minute, but Freiburg forward Doan capitalized on a rebound to tie the score.Then, in the 83rd minute of the first competitive match between the two countries, Bochum's Asano outran Nico Schlotterbeck and beat Neuer from a tight angle.

The game was held the day following Argentina's shocking 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia.Germany's players covered their lips during the team photo before Wednesday's game, seemingly in response to FIFA's decision to halt plans to wear armbands to protest prejudice in the host country Qatar.

Nancy Faeser, Germany's sports minister, attended the game at the Khalifa International Stadium and sat next to Gianni Infantino, FIFA's president, while wearing the identical "One Love" armband that FIFA had forbidden due to fear of repercussions.

Germany has previously lost its tournament-opening match against Algeria in 1982 and Mexico in 2018, making this the third time in its history. Germany has won 13 games and drawn four in its previous World Cup openers.

Germany performed better than Japan for the most of the game, with 24 goal-scoring efforts to Japan's 11. Despite errantly tackling left back David Raum to earn Japan's penalty, goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda made many saves and was named player of the match.

Gonda said, "We battled together. We must make sure we never give up."

While Germany plays Spain on Sunday, Japan will play Costa Rica next.

While Germany will take on Spain on Sunday, Japan will play their next match against Costa Rica.

Because of Qatar's track record with respect to human rights and the way it treats migrant workers and members of the LGBTQ community, the buildup in Germany was marred by demonstrations and political declarations.

Germany was making its first appearance at the World Cup since their dramatic elimination from the group stage as the reigning champions in 2018, while Japan is participating in its seventh consecutive World Cup and is hoping to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time.

From Ecomhao