The Japan National Team had the first match of their group stage in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil on 14 June local time at Arena Pernambuco in Recife, and had it slip away as Cote d’Ivoire came back from behind to win it 2-1.
Honda Keisuke struck the first goal of the match at the 16th minute, but Wilfried Bony at the 64th and Gervinho at the 66th scored goals to turn around the match.

The Japan’s starting line-up had Kawashima Eiji at GK, Uchida Atsuto, Morishige Masato, Yoshida Maya and Nagatomo Yuto as defenders, the duo of Yamaguchi Hotaru and Hasebe Makoto as midfielders, Okazaki Shinji and Kagawa Shinji manning right and left wingers, and Honda Keisuke backing up the lone centre forward Osako Yuya.

As over 40,000 sang out loud the national anthem before starting “NIPPON” chants, the match got kicked off. Japan created opportunities early as Okazaki and Kagawa attempted shots off a corner kick from the left side at the 14th minute.

It was right after that when we saw the first goal of the match. Nagatomo threw in the ball and had it back from Kagawa, then gave a feed to Honda. A moment after he received it, Honda fired a stunning shoot with his left foot.

Four minutes later at the 20th, Uchida sprinted up the right side to receive a pass from Honda, dribbled off a defender and struck a shot at the edge of the penalty area. It surely threatened Cote d’Ivoire’s goal, but GK Boubacar Barry successfully defended this time.

On the other hand, Cote d’Ivoire’s offence centred on Yaya Toure and looked for chances to equalise the match. Serge Aurier, the right full-back, and Arthur Boka, the left full-back, repeatedly used both sides effectively and tried to attack the Japan’s goal. Japan’s defence led by Morishige, Yamaguchi and Hasebe managed to check those attempts and Kawashima also made impressive saves before the first half ended with Japan’s 1-0 lead.

However in the second half, Cote d’Ivoire only accelerated their attacks never to stop scaring Japan, as Aurier from a side and Kalou in the middle came up close to the Japan’s goal. When FW Didier Drogba was subbed in at the 62nd minute, it added even more spark to their offensive momentum.

Finally at the 64th, the match was tied when Bony came into the box to head in the cross ball from the right side by Aurier. Two minutes later, it was again the cross from Aurier, but this time to Gervinho who rushed to the near post to let his close header touch the back of the net.

Moments later, Japan replaced Osako with Okubo Yoshito and then Kagawa with Kakitani Yoichiro. They also moved up Yoshida Maya from the back to attempt a late power play. However, they never saw another gall for them to equalise the match before the time-up.

The other match of the group C of the day had Colombia defeat Greece 3-0 and Colombia gained the early lead in the group. Cote d’Ivoire chases at the second place only by the goal difference. Japan stands at the third leading Greece only by a few goals, too.
Japan and Greece will go head to head in the second match for both nations on 19 in Natal.

Comments

Alberto ZACCHERONI Head Coach
We played very aggressively early, but after that they started gaining momentum and using spaces effectively and outplaying us. The first 20 minutes of the first half, we couldn’t attack enough. We should have tried more aggressively to get their ball and keep our possession. We should have used spaces more aggressively. We didn’t have quickness we usually have, had too much distance between players, so it disrupted both our offense and defence. We subbed in a few players to change the course of the match, but we couldn’t. I don’t think out fitness level was very bad. We were in a good shape, and we were ready mentally as well. We just couldn’t make plays we have been able to make these four years. We will study this match and figure out what we couldn’t do and what we should do in the next two matches.

MF HASEBE Makoto（Eintracht Frankfurt／Germany）
Throughout this match, we couldn’t play the football that we were trying to play. That’s the most disappointing part. We scored first, but after that we became passive, just trying to think about how to defend. This team isn’t made to keep defending the lead of one goal. We should have tried to score more. We should have tried to keep our playing field closer. We lost our ball too much. We got their ball only late in our half. So even when we got it, we lost it again when we tried to move up the ball. Everything just kept making our next play worse, one thing after another.

FW OKAZAKI Shinji（1.FSV Mainz 05／Germany）
We couldn’t move up the ball well, and we let them made their counterattacks, so we couldn’t keep making good plays. After Drogba came in, we started losing our ball more. This was one of those matches where we should stay persistent and keep hanging on. We lost this match and there is nothing we can do about it now. If we win next two matches, we can still move on. It’s important for our team to keep our heads high and change our mindset. There were opportunities to score one more goal. So next match we will try to create more opportunities. That’s how we should change our mindset.

DF NAGATOMO Yuto（F.C. Internazionale Milano／Italy）
We couldn’t play our style of football. It was a tough match. Our defensive line backed down too much and we let them move the ball easily. That made us run around too much and we started losing our overall energy. When they were moving the ball easily, we tried to trap early many times, but they didn’t work too well and we couldn’t get the ball. It doesn’t change anything for us to stay negative and stay looking down, so all we have to do now is to do what we have got to do for the next match against Greece.

Sabri LAMOUCHI, Head Coach, Cote d’Ivoire National Team
It’s a good thing to win the first match in the World Cup. It was a difficult match and we could barely win. During the half time, I tried to calm down our players and told them to be careful when they attack. Drogba came in and it changed the momentum. He’s not 100% right now, so I thought it would be effective to play him off the bench. Presence like him helps our team so much.

Schedule

※Broadcast time is Japan time.