Takashi Usami and Japan beat Colombia

FCA’s Takashi Usami and Japan pulled off an upset in their first group game of the World Cup, as they narrowly beat Colombia 2-1. Usami didn’t come on in the game, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t join in with the rest of the teammates as they celebrated the big victory. The game was turned on its head in the very early stages when Colombia’s Carlos Sánchez received a red card for purposely blocking a shot in the penalty area that was destined for the goal with his arm. It was the first red card of the tournament so far. Shinji Kagawa stepped up to take the resulting penalty and converted it to put his country 1-0 up (6’). After taking the lead and being up a man, Japan set up well defensively and looked to hit the Colombians on the counter-attack. However, the South Americans equalised shortly before half time. Juan Quintero stepped up to take a free-kick and shot the ball along the ground under the wall to catch everyone out. Kawashima in the Japan net couldn’t quite keep it from going over the line (39’). The four time Asian champions tried to make their man advantage count in the second half, but it took until the 73rd minute for them to eventually succeed. Yuya Osako scored with a header from a corner to make it 2-1, which is how the game would finish.