"When Reus, Müller and all Bayern players are injured": Group opponents from the DFB team explain their chances of winning
Created: 06/17/2022, 17:01
By: Antonio Jose Riether
The German national team meets Japan in the first World Cup group game.
Ex-Bundesliga star Shinji Kagawa sees the DFB team as clear favourites.
Sint Truiden – The field of participants for the 2022 World Cup has been complete since Tuesday, and the winter tournament in Qatar is getting closer.
The German team wants to show a different face this year than it did in the preliminary round in Russia in 2018. In the first group game, Hansi Flick's team meets the Japanese, who are difficult to predict. A former Japanese Bundesliga star has already given his prediction for the encounter.
Soccer World Cup 2022 |
Venue: Qatar |
Start: November 21, 2022 |
Finals: December 18, 2022 |
German group opponents: Japan, Spain, Costa Rica |
Germany meets Japan in World Cup group – Kagawa ennobles DFB team as “perhaps the best team”
Shinji Kagawa played for Borussia Dortmund for a total of six and a half years, so he knows German football very well.
The 33-year-old was German champion twice with BVB and won the DFB Cup twice.
The 33-year-old, who has made 97 appearances for the Japanese national team and scored 31 goals in the process,
assessed the 'Samurai Blue' chances of success in the first game of Group E in an interview with the specialist portal
Transfermarkt.de .
The first game against the DFB team is "of course the top priority" and he does not expect a sporting slump like in 2018.
"They come to the World Cup with 1000 percent passion and it's perhaps the best team that Japan has had to play against in their World Cup history," was the assessment of the current player at Belgian first division club VV St. Truiden.
Kagawa rates Japan as an outsider - win against DFB team "if all Bayern players are injured"
"If Marco Reus is injured, Thomas Müller too - or all Bayern players... - then we win," joked Kagawa, who played with Reus for years.
So he sees his Japanese as blatant outsiders, despite the many internationally experienced players in the squad.
The Japanese Shinji Kagawa (right) knows Marco Reus from his time in Dortmund.
© David Inderlied/imago-images
For the 2022 World Cup: Ex-BVB professional Kagawa is hoping for a national team comeback after more than three years
When the teams meet at the Khalifa International Stadium near the Qatari capital Doha on November 23, Kagawa hopes to be part of the national team.
The former Manchester United star captained Japan in a friendly against Bolivia in March 2019 but has never played for his country since.
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But he is combative.
"Of course I would like to be able to be called up to the squad a third time and play in the tournament," says Kagawa, who emphasizes that he will "throw everything in" for his goal, but he "can't look to the future. “Otherwise the former superstar would have guessed an exact result between Germany and Japan.
(ajr)
