Watch: Japan score from stunning corner move against Croatia

Japan score from stunning corner move against Croatia: Daizen Maeda of Japan celebrates with his team mates after scoring a goal to make it 1-0 during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Round of 16 match between Japan and Croatia at Al Janoub Stadium on December 5, 2022 in Al Wakrah, Qatar.
(Image credit: Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)

Japan are 1-0 up against Croatia, following a lovely corner routine – and unlike the two previous wins at this tournament, the Samurai Blue are playing with the ball and taking the game to the opposition. 

Celtic star Daizen Maeda was loitering around the goal mouth waiting for the ball to drop after a short corner was whipped into the danger zone. Japan fired an early warning to the Croatians, too, with a similar move from that same corner – but failed to capitalise. 

They're one of the most exciting teams at this tournament given their massive wins over some of Europe's big boys, with the same energy and hard running returning for this clash in the last-16 of the tournament. Japan look good for their lead, unlikely in previous games. 

Japan started with the more cautious 3-4-3 which proved fruitful against the Spanish, perhaps looking to cede possession to the likes of Luka Modric and Mateo Kovacic in midfield. The game started with the Croatians settling with a good tempo, though – and could have had the lead within seven minutes when Perisic was through and couldn’t beat Shuichi Gonda in goal from a tight angle. 

They could have had the lead earlier, too. Another stunning move from the Japanese down the left of the pitch culminated in Eintracht Frankfurt attacker Daichi Kamada missing from the edge of the six-yard box. Embarrassingly for Kamada, the ball was put out for a throw-in.

The winner of this one faces Brazil or South Korea in the quarter-finals of the tournament. 

Mark White
Content Editor

Mark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robson’s time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.