Japan and South Korea surprised fans around the world with their performances at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year. They managed to break through their group and enter the top 16. Although they didn't go farther, their performance was enough to satisfy the fans who supported them. However, on this national team match day, the two teams met their Waterloo one after another, and the two teams struggled to win in four warm-up matches, with a record equal to that of the Chinese men's soccer team.
First place went to Japan, the top-ranked team in Asia, who were up against South American powerhouse Colombia. In the last World Cup preliminaries, Colombia was suspended and failed to enter the World Cup. Although they didn't make it to the world's top 32, Colombia's strength is definitely not to be underestimated. In the FIFA ranking, they are ranked 17th, even 4 places higher than Japan.
However, the hosts broke the deadlock just three minutes later when Japan took the lead. Kaoru Mitsunori's header from Hidemasa Mamorita's cross gave Japan an early 1-0 lead, and a frantic Colombian counterattack was launched. In the 33rd minute, Colombia launched a fast counterattack. Machado broke down the wing and sent in a cross. Duran, who was following up from the penalty spot, easily put the ball into the net, helping Colombia to equalize the score 1-1! Both teams went back to the locker room with a score of 1-1 at the end of the half.
At the change of ends, the hosts Japan changed horses one after another to try to strengthen their offense, but it also made their defense start to expose more space. In the 61st minute, Colombia launched an attack with a long pass. Arias got the ball in the penalty area and calmly held off a defender before starting the attack. The ball was settled by Japanese goalkeeper Schmidt, and Borey, who followed up in the center, barreled through the air to add to the score, making it 2-1! Colombia managed to turn the game around! Although Japan didn't want to fall behind, they were really powerless against Colombia's iron barricade. In the end, Japan had to accept a 1-2 loss with two warm-up matches.
South Korea, who played later, also suffered a loss. Facing Uruguay, a World Cup opponent, the hosts had some advantages, but the possession rate and the number of shots were all better than their opponents. However, due to the poor efficiency of the offense, the Koreans only got one goal in the whole game. On the other hand, Uruguay opened up South Korea's goal twice through set pieces. In addition, the referee did not side with Korea and blew off two goals one after another. In the end, Korea lost to Uruguay with a score of 1-2, and their warm-up record stayed at 1 draw and 1 loss.
It is worth mentioning that in the two previous matches with New Zealand, China's record was 1 draw and 1 loss, while the loss was only 1-2.After watching the match between Japan and South Korea, I believe that the players of the national football team should get some comfort. After all, it's hard to win when you're better than Japan and South Korea. The national soccer team is hard to win. Is there anything strange about that?
