Japan confident of bright future despite World Cup heartbreak

06.12.2022 - 14:21 arabnews.com

DOHA: Japan failed to reach the World Cup quarter-finals once again but stunning wins over Germany and Spain and more players moving to Europe suggest the Blue Samurai will return stronger.

Japan were eliminated by Croatia in the last 16 on Monday in Qatar, going out on penalties after a nerve-jangling 1-1 draw with the 2018 finalists.

It was the fourth time Japan had exited at the first knock-out stage and denied them a much-coveted quarter-final debut in their seventh straight World Cup appearance.

But the four-times Asian champions showed that they can compete with the world’s best in Qatar, beating both Germany and Spain — two former champions — to point toward brighter times ahead.

cup Cristiano Ronaldo Dominik Livakovic Zlatko Dalić Wataru Endo Qatar Germany Croatia Spain Brazil Doha Japan Morocco Saudi Arabia South Korea

LONDON: FIFA said on Friday that the results of the World Cup Qatar 2022 might impact some of the nominees for the Best FIFA Football Awards in February, with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in contention for the Best FIFA Men’s Player award.

World Cup: Hits and misses

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have dazzled at the World Cup in Qatar, while Morocco caught the imagination of a continent on their run to the semi-finals.

World Cup hits and misses

DOHA: Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have dazzled at the World Cup in Qatar, while Morocco caught the imagination of a continent on their run to the semifinals. But the host nation flopped badly, Germany made a swift exit and Cristiano Ronaldo discovered he was no longer an automatic pick for Portugal. AFP Sport looks at the hits and misses from a month-long festival of football. Overachievers Morocco became the first African side and the first Arab team to reach the semifinals of a World Cup. And it was no fluke. Walid Regragui’s men, ranked 22nd in the world, beat Belgium and drew with Croatia on the way to topping their group before dumping 2010 champions Spain and Portugal out of the tournament. Roared on by tens of thousands of fans and supported across Africa and the Arab world, they came up short in the semifinals, losing 2-0 to France, but they have broken new ground. Japan shocked Germany and Spain to top their group before losing on penalties to Croatia in the round of 16. South Korea underlined the progress Asian football is making by beating Portugal to qualify from their group but came unstuck against Brazil in the first knockout round.

World Cup of firsts ends with clash of titans

DOHA: There is no new name on the trophy and many of football’s global superstars are taking their final bow but the most controversial World Cup in history will be remembered as a tournament of firsts. Heavyweights France and Argentina progressed to the final, each looking to win the trophy for a third time after a tournament packed with shocks and surprises. Four-time winners Germany crashed out at the group stage for the second successive time while Argentina were beaten by Saudi Arabia in their opener in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history.

Whatever the ending, Qatar World Cup duly delivered

A World Cup that has defied all expectations reaches its climax on Sunday when Lionel Messi could join Diego Maradona in Argentine immortality by taking the south Americans to the title or France could become the first nation to retain it since 1962.

Croatia's semi-final exit fails to overshadow glittering World Cup run

DOHA : Croatia's run to the semi-finals of a second consecutive World Cup was nothing short of remarkable for the small Balkan nation and even Tuesday's 3-0 defeat by Argentina does not overshadow their achievements on football's biggest stage.