Hosts Eliminated but Japan March on

Germany 0 : 1 Japan

The theme of the day was the rise of the underdogs. England held off a superior French team until the very last moment in the first game of quarterfinals, and then Japan earned the upset of the tournament by dropping powerhouse and two-time defending champion Germany 1-0 in extra time.

The German side started surprisingly subdued. They had some early chances, but were missing their usual swagger gleaned from their dominance during group play, noted physicality and home field advantage.

They took a huge hit early when in the 4th minute they won a corner kick off Japan’s defense. Kim Kulig of Germany, an important component of their offense went up for a header that sailed wide. Coming back down, she landed incorrectly, likely spraining her ankle. Germany was forced to sub early, bringing on Bianca Schmidt in the 8th minute

In the 9th minute, Germany had a dangerous play in the ball when Kerstin Garefrekes knifed a low-flying ball across the goal. Defender Yukari Kinga was able to get a foot in to redirect the ball’s path away from the German offense.

And then in the 11th, Japan conceded a dangerous set piece just outside the penalty area on the right side. The header was saved by goalkeeper Ayumi Kaihori.

Kerstin Garefrekes and Melanie Behringer were two of the most visible players for the German side, earning several set pieces and acting as the main playmakers.

Germany, the tallest team of the World Cup, had a definite advantage of the more compact Japanese.

Japan was able to utilize their speed and quickness to effectively cut off Germany’s offense, and while they suffered nine fouls in the first half, they also conceded five of their own, sending a message to Germany that they were not going to be intimidated by a little scrapping.

But the strength of the German defense definitely impeded Japan’s ability to play their signature game style that favors short, quick passes through the middle with one and two touches. Most of run of play happened in the middle third of the field. Japan in turn was able to use their agility to swarm the Germans whenever the ball got into their defensive third.

At half time, Japan had held possession for 59% of the team, and the shot count was fairly evenly split between Germany’s five and Japan’s four.

The German side tried to utilize their size advantage, and at no other time previously in the tournament had Japan been so dominated in the air. Set piece specialist Aya Miyama ran into this problem over and over again and Homare Sawa, the leading goal scorer in the tournament so far after a hat trick against Canada, was not as effective playing a tougher German squad.

Germany entered the game with the advantage of 6-0-0 record against Asian teams and a 3-0-0 record specifically against Japan. But while it seemed each minute brought another chance to score for them from the air, they had trouble getting the bar into that sacred territory between the posts and under the crossbar.

Japan, despite their shorter stature, actually outfouled Germany 15-12 overall, and though they were one of the few teams to not receive a single card in group play, caught up with the rest by tallying four yellow cards over the course of the game.

With neither side able to effectively open up play, the game was held scoreless and extra time was called for.

Japan had a scary moment with skipper Sawa appeared to pull a muscle early in extra time and had to be carried off. She came back on but was visibly struggling with pain.

Germany nearly capitalized on a poor pass back by the Japanese defense in the 101st minute, but Inka Grings, who has been so important to Germany in this tournament, shot wide outside the far post after scooping up the interception.

The course of this World Cup changed indelibly in the 108th minute.

Sawa proved her character by picking up an interception and sent a through ball deep to the right side. Karina Maruyama expended herself to get to it and slotted the ball to the far past past goalkeeper Nadine Angerer who dove to protect near post. It was her first career World Cup goal and much like England’s goal in the first quarterfinal game will carry a record with it as being the latest goal ever scored in a World Cup.

Germany kept pressuring, shooting for everything, but in the end had to swallow a very bitter pill in front of their home fans, whose noise grew softer and more despondent in the last five minutes of play.

Japan took down the world power to advance to the semi-finals where they will play the winner of the Sweden vs. Australia fixture tomorrow on Wednesday.

Kara McDermott will be up at 4:00 a.m. tomorrow to cover the quarterfinals. She also writes for her blog, Waving the Rave.