Roy Keane was critical of Celtic forward Daizen Maeda’s ‘bad decision-making’ at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but he was later proved right as Japan beat Germany 2-1 in Qatar on Wednesday, as he told ITV Sport.
Early in the first half, Japan counter-attacked Germany like a 100-meter race in an Olympic final, with the end result seeing Maeda knock the ball into the net from five yards out and then the goal being ruled out for offside.
But the Celtic star was ‘too eager’, according to Ian Wright, in trying to get into a goalscoring position because he could have held his run and still had a clear-cut chance to score.
When Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gündogan opened the scoring from the penalty spot later in the first half, Japan, and Maeda especially, would have been kicking themselves.
But, at the half-time break, whilst Keane was critical of Maeda, the former Republic of Ireland international made it clear that Japan ‘can still score a goal’ by hitting the Germans on the break and that proved to be the case when they came from behind to win.
Maeda was replaced just before the hour mark with the score at 1-0 and replaced by former Arsenal man, Takuma Asano, who ended up scoring the winner.
“They will still be encouraged by it,” said Keane. “If you are going to play on the counter-attack, then you are going to need pace, space and runners.
“That will encourage them. Okay, it was bad decision-making (from Maeda), but they can still score a goal by playing that system.”
JAPAN JOIN SAUDIS PARTY
Two big hitters in Argentina and Germany have been on the end of two unexpected defeats during the opening round of the World Cup in the desert.
It took its time to get going, but Saudi Arabia and Japan have lit up the world’s biggest sporting stage with their fearless play and all-action style.
Brazil are the final big-hitting nation yet to play in Qatar, and bigged up as one of the favourites, they don’t want to be going down the same road as their fellow South American neighbours as they face Serbia.
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