At the end of last year, the Qatar World Cup stage witnessed the outstanding performances of Japan and South Korea, whose breakthrough advancement brightened the eyes of fans around the globe, making it to the round of 16 and satisfying their fans even though they failed to achieve another success. But on the national team's warm-up day, the two teams suffered consecutive setbacks, struggling to win one of their four matches, equaling the Chinese men's soccer team's record.
Japan, the leader of Asian soccer, will face South American powerhouse Colombia in their opening match. In the last World Cup qualifier, Colombia missed out on a spot in the World Cup due to suspension. Despite failing to qualify for the round of 32, they are a force to be reckoned with and are ranked 17th in the FIFA rankings, even four places above Japan.
At the beginning of the match, the hosts broke the deadlock in the third minute when Kaoru Mitsunori scored a header to give Japan a 1-0 lead. Colombia was not to be outdone and launched a fierce counter-attack. In the 33rd minute, Machado crossed the ball into the center of the field and teammate Duran scored from the penalty spot to make the score 1-1. The two teams were tied at the end of the half.
In the second half, Japan put in new players looking for an offensive breakthrough, only to leave holes in the defense. In the 61st minute, the Colombian captain passed the ball, Arias calmly dunked the ball in the penalty area, the Japanese goalkeeper Schmidt couldn't save, and Borey broke the goal by hooking the ball in the air, and the Colombians went back to the lead 2-1. Despite Japan's efforts to catch up, they were ultimately unable to recover against Colombia's iron wall defense, and eventually lost 1-2, losing their second consecutive warm-up match.
The South Koreans, who played later, also suffered a loss against Uruguay. Although Korea had the upper hand in possession and shots, their offense was inefficient, scoring only one goal in the entire match. Uruguay scored twice from set pieces, and the referee seemed to be on the wrong side of Korea, blowing away two goals in a row. In the end, South Korea lost 1-2 to Uruguay, with a record of 1 draw and 1 loss in the warm-up match.
It is worth mentioning that China also only achieved 1 draw and 1 loss in the two matches with New Zealand, with one of the losses being 1-2. after witnessing the match between Japan and South Korea, the players of the national football team may feel a little bit of solace. After all, compared to Japan and South Korea, the national soccer team has performed much better, and it is not unusual for them to achieve such results.
