Colombia 1-2 Japan: World Cup highlights and recap

Japan beat Colombia 2-1 in Group H on Tuesday, June 19. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Group H always looked like the most unpredictable at this World Cup, and so it felt appropriate that its opening match saw underdogs Japan beat favorites Colombia, thanks to goals either side of halftime from Shinji Kagawa and Yuya Osako.

Japan led after only five minutes, Kagawa converting a penalty awarded for Carlos Sanchez’s handball in the area. Perhaps even more significantly than the goal, the referee deemed Sanchez’s handball deliberate, and sent the midfielder off.

Colombia responded well, however, restricting Japan to half chances while maintaining a threat of their own. They got a deserved equalizer in the 39th minute through Juan Quintero, who slid his free-kick under the wall, where it beat Eiji Kawashima at his near post.

Los Cafeteros were hardly overrun in the second half, but as the game wore on Japan’s numbers advantage started to show. Colombia dropped deeper and deeper, and Japan slowly started to generate a steady stream of chances.

The pressure told in the 73rd minute, as Osako headed in Keisuke Honda’s corner. David Ospina had come for the cross, leaving a big target for Osako, but the header was perfectly placed into the corner.

Osako made a significant contribution at the other end minutes later, sliding in at the last minute to block a shot from James Rodriguez, who had been played free in the box by a wonderful back heel by Wilmar Barrios.

That proved to be Colombia’s last good chance of the match, as they suffered an unexpected early defeat. They could still go through in a very evenly-matched group, but it’s already hard to see them replicating their feel-good run in Brazil four years ago.

Next: The best player on every team at the World Cup

Highlights

Japan’s next match is against Senegal on Sunday, June 24. Colombia play Poland later the same day.