Maya Yoshida claims he always KNEW Japan would get through their Group of Death.
And Japan captain Yoshida says they are now ready to write another page in his country’s football history as they face Croatia in the last 16. Former Southampton defender Yoshida, 34, says he studied his stats before the World Cup which left him utterly convinced that Japan would go through even though they were in a Group with Germany and Spain.
Incredibly, Japan beat Spain and Germany and ended up knocking Germany out of the World Cup in one of the great upsets. But Yoshida, who now plays for Schalke in the Bundesliga, admitted he did not share his information with his team mates but says he always believed.
Yoshida said: “There is data which shows that, since 1998, two big countries in the same Group have never both gone through. Statistically there’s evidence that showed we should be confident.
“I’m very happy for the great comeback spirit mentality as a team and I’m very happy for that. But our target is still to win the next game. I was the only one that knew the statistics. I didn’t tell anyone! I just read an article and it stuck with me, I kept it in my head.”
Yoshida now faces Croatia in the last 16 but he believes this tournament could be ripe for more upsets as the less fancied countries upset the established big teams.
Japan have incredible support in Qatar and they are clearly not ready to go home just yet. Yoshida said: “It will be a new chapter in Japanese history so we have to be focused on one more game yet.
“The World Cup is a really difficult tournament and if you see the other Groups, there’s not been so many teams who can qualify after just two games.
“We knew it would be really difficult, with Germany and Spain playing each other. We knew we’d have to win but this is what it’s like at the World Cup where everything is possible, everything can be possible. We have to think positive, not negative and we’ve made it happen in a positive way and we’re very happy for that.”
It was an incredible final set of Group fixtures as Japan beat Spain while Germany beat Costa Rica but all four teams occupied the top two slots at various points and, for three minutes, Spain were going out.
It was a topsy turvy night but Yoshida says they had no idea of the scores in the other game while they were out on the pitch and he also revealed the agony waiting for the VAR decision on whether their winning goal would stand.
Yoshida added: “It was such a long time. Mama Mia! It was such a long time. I was praying all of the time and after that we focused on what we needed next. We looked at the clock and there was still such a long time to go.
“And we didn’t know anything on the other game. We knew if we won then we’d go through anyway so to be 2-1 up, we tried to win and I didn’t know the other Germany result. We knew nothing at all. I was too focused on us. We showed great spirit and solidarity.”
