2022 Qatar World Cup: Germany vs. Japan

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Part of a series on 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar. [View Related Entries]

Overview

2022 Qatar World Cup: Germany vs. Japan was the debut match of the two teams in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which became one of the trending topics of the World Cup as the Japanese team defeated the Germans by a score of 2-1. The match took place on November 23rd, 2022.

The Match

On November 23rd, 2022, Germany lost to Japan by a 2-1^[1] score in the first group stage match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The result of the game came from goals scored by the German player Ilkay Gundogan,^[2] with a penalty in the 33rd minute and, later in the second half, strikes from Ritsu Doan^[3] and Takuma Asano.^[4] Japan secured a 2-1 score to go to the top of Group E. After Japan defeated Germany, football fans all over the globe flooded social media with memes about the match.

Brazil's Revenge

The result of the game pleased the Brazilians, who still hold a grudge against Germany after the 2014 World Cup Semifinal: Brazil vs Germany in which Brazil lost with a 7×1 score. The Brazilian online community celebrated the Germans' defeat with memes and jokes on social media, leading the keyword "Japan" to become Brazilian Twitter's most trending topic on November 23rd, 2022. One Brazilian 'Infiltrated' the Japanese crowd that was spotted during the game celebrating Japan's goal against Germany, which was shared in a clip on Twitter. The tweet by @choquei^[5] received 22,000 likes and 1,100 retweets in less than 24 hours (seen below).

Twitter^[6] user @tatizetha also tweeted about not being interested in any other team aside from Brazil, but claimed the love Latin Americans have for Japan changed their mind, posting an image macro meme of a girl with a lot of Japan's flags and references in support of the country.

Japan's Reaction

Streets were flooded in Japan with people celebrating their team's victory, like in the @ss_1_kk^[7] tweet seen below, which shows the Shibuya Crosswalk in Tokyo with fans shouting and jumping. The video garnered 83,000 likes and 4,2 million views in less than 24 hours.

日本がドイツに歴史的勝利後の渋谷スクランブル交差点えぐい笑 #日本代表 #日本勝利 #ワールドカップ pic.twitter.com/YOZKory4Le

— きし (@ss_1_kk) November 23, 2022

World Reaction

The Twitter page @ComplexSports^[8] shared a call an ambulance, but not for me meme to joke about the game. The post, uploaded on November 23rd, 2022, garnered 3,000 likes and 914 retweets (seen below).

The surprising defeat of Argentina against the Saudi Arabia team was also referenced in some memes about Japan's victory, like this Mr. Bean Cheating meme. Posted by @TrollFootball,^[9] the meme received 68,800 likes and 10,500 retweets in less than 24 hours (seen below).