Germany will be looking for revenge against Japan in a friendly match at the Volkswagen Stadium in Wolfsburg on Saturday night. Germany had lost 1-2 to Japan in the group stage over the course of the World Cup in Qatar.
As hosts of Euro 2024, Germany are not required to qualify for next summer's championship. This means that Hans Flicke's team has not played any competition since the World Cup. Germany had lost to Japan in their opening World Cup match, then played the team to a 1-1 draw before beating them 4-2, but they ended up third in Group E, two points behind Japan.
As a result, Germany have failed to progress to the knockout stages of the World Cup for the second consecutive tournament, and as four-time champions they have once again underperformed in the world's biggest tournament. Germany made their comeback with a 2-0 win over the team in March, but since then they have failed to win again, winning one and losing three of their four friendlies, failing to score in two of them.
After a 3-2 loss against the team, Germany was held to a 3-3 draw by Ukraine and then lost consecutive games to and Colombia. As a result, Flick and his players are eager to rediscover the winning feeling in Saturday's match.
However, Japan's performance in Qatar was impressive. They beat Germany and Spain to win Group E, although they were eventually beaten on penalties by the team in the last 16 of the competition.
Despite facing 26 shots on goal and only having 26% possession, Japan beat Germany 2-1 in Qatar, thanks to brilliant goals from Jun Okada and Takuma Asano. After a 1-0 loss against Costa Rica, Morihoichi's men bounced back immediately as they beat Spain 2-1 in their third group game, despite being held to a whopping 83% possession at the time.
Although Japan's World Cup tour ended in the round of 16, Morihoichi's side quickly got back to their best on the next international day, meaning Japan only lost one game on Saturday.
Japan went on a 6-0 rampage against El Salvador in June, with six different players scoring, and then they thrashed Peru 4-1 in their most recent match, so there's a good chance they'll continue to trouble Germany this weekend.
Germany's Niklas Fülke** celebrates with teammate Joshua Kimmich after scoring their first goal in the March 25, 2023 match. Pascal Gross has been called up to the German national team for the first time due to his outstanding performances for & Hof Albion earlier this season, and he joins uncapped goalkeeper Oliver Baumann in the squad.
Germany probable starting XI: Ter Stegen; Rudiger, Süller, Tiafoe; Kimmich, Can, Gündoğan, Goossens; Musiala, Wiltz; Gnabry Japan probable starting XI: Nakamura; Sugawara, Itakura, Taniguchi, Tomoyasu; Ito, Endo, Kubo Kengyo, Mikkan; Kamada Daiichi; Furuhashi Hironosuke
OUR PREDICTION: GERMANY 2-1 JAPAN Despite Germany's poor form over the last 12 months - winning just two of their last eight matches - the Germans will bounce back sooner rather than later. With that in mind, we expect Flick's players to return to winning ways with a narrow victory, although Japan could push the hosts to the limit.
