Kubo reigns against France

Takefusa Kubo was worth 45 minutes to decide a very tight match against France. It didn’t need a brilliant performance, nor a lot of continuity, but two technical actions by the Real Madrid player led Japan to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games. The hosts were easily imposed by 4-0 to a weak Francia on an outstanding performance by the Real Madrid player, who scored the Japan’s first goal and was involved in the second of his team’s four goals, before being substituted at half-time.

Today’s game was life or death for France. The Gauls, with a team full of non-regulars and without their big stars, were forced to beat Japan by more than one goal difference to depend on themselves to advance to the next round of the Games. It was also worth improving the result of Mexico, which played against South Africa, but the need for victory forced the French team to go out to win from minute 1. In front, a Japanese team that came with a Kubo in a state of grace and with practically the sealed classification.

France couldn’t beat Kubo in the first half. The Real Madrid player tipped the balance on the Japanese side with astonishing ease and massacred the rival defense. Whenever he received on the wing or between the lines, a French player was always late. There was no antidote to the playmaker, who made the first Japanese goal with a house-brand move that ended up materializing after taking advantage of a rebound to a shot from Ueda. With the 1-0 score, and with France forced to score three goals, Kubo danced again, this time taking Tousart out of the zone in the middle and assisting Ueda, who was left alone after a great pass from his teammate and the rejection of his shot was taken advantage of by Sakai. Two claws from the young Japanese player had practically sentenced the match before the break.

With the match submerged in an appeasement from which no team seemed to emerge, Kubo was substituted and both Japan and France had a truce in which the organizing team was delighted, since the result classified him as leader and France needed four goals to act. an impossible miracle. There would still be time to see two more goals for Japan, the first from a Miyoshi shot from mid-range that surprised Bernardoni and the second from a crossover shot by Maeda in injury time that confirmed the ridiculous Frenchman.

Changes

Enzo Le Fée (37 ‘, Téji Savanier), Koji miyoshi (45 ‘, Take Kubo), Daiki hashioka (54 ‘, Hiroki Sakai), Modibo Sagnan (61 ‘, Pierre Kalulu Kyatengwa), Melvin bard (61 ‘, Timothee Pembele), Yuki soma (71 ‘, Ritsu Doan), Ko Itakura (71 ‘, Wataru Endo), Daizen maeda (79 ‘, Ao Tanaka)

Goals

0-1, 26 ‘: Take kubo, 0-2, 33 ‘: Hiroki sakai, 0-3, 69 ‘: Koji miyoshi, 0-4, 90 ‘: Daizen maeda

Cards

Referee: Iván Arcides Barton Cisneros
VAR Referee: Nicolás Gallo Barragán
Takehiro tomiyasu (21 ‘, Yellow) Hiroki sakai (43 ‘, Yellow) Timothee Pembele (57 ‘, Yellow) Clement Michelin (65 ‘, Yellow) Randal Kolo Muani (73 ‘, Red

Classification

Group A

PT

PJ

PG

PE

PP

1

9 3 3 0 0
2

6 3 2 0 1
3

3 3 1 0 2
4

0 3 0 0 3

Group A

PT

PJ

PG

PE

PP

1

9 3 3 0 0
2

6 3 2 0 1
3

3 3 1 0 2
4

0 3 0 0 3