Brighton style penalties send Mitoma and Japan out of World Cup
Now we know why so many Brighton fans feel an affinity to the Samurai Blue. Japan proved themselves almost as bad at penalties as the Albion with Kaoru Mitoma and his compatriots exiting the World Cup at the second round stage following a shootout defeat to Croatia.
Japan missed saw three poor spot kicks saved by Dominik Livakovic as Croatia advanced with a 3-1 success from 12 yards.
The shootout offered shades of the Albion in the 2020-21 campaign. Brighton missed two penalties but still avoided the embarrassment of an FA Cup exit to League Two Newport County thanks to the heroics of Jason Steele.
A little over a month later and both Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck squandered spot kicks in the space of an hour when the Albion suffered defeat away against soon-to-be-relegated West Brom.
To prove that he is fitting in really well at the Amex, Mitoma was the man who missed the second Japan penalty.
Having been one of the most exciting players for Japan at the World Cup, it was a sad way for Mitoma to end his tournament on a personal level.
Most neutrals will have been disappointed to see the Samurai Blue exit too. The tournament will be poorer without their brave, exciting brand of attacking football.
Having already beaten 2010 champions Spain and 2014 champions Germany in the group stage, Japan were eyeing up a third major shock of the World Cup against 2018 runners up Croatia.
They took a deserved lead two minutes before half time. Celtic forward Daizen Maeda converted from a Maya Yoshida knockdown.
Croatia equalised 10 minutes after the break. Dejan Lovren crossed and Ivan Perisic produced a brilliant header which gave Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda no chance.
Mitoma was introduced in his normal super sub role with 25 minutes remaining. Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu has made great use of Mitoma’s pace and directness running at tired defences in the second half of games.
When this tie finished level after 90 minutes, Mitoma had extra time to try and torment Croatia. The closest Mitoma could come to finding a winner for Japan was when his spectacular strike was pushed over the bar at full stretch by Livakovic.
That was not the last battle between the Brighton wide man and the Dinamo Zagreb goalkeeper which would be won by Livakovic.
After saving Japan’s first penalty from Takumi Minamino, Livakovic kept out Mitoma’s weak spot kick. A third save from Japan’s fourth penalty taken by Maya Yoshida enabled Mario Pasalic to tuck into the corner and send Croatia through to a quarter final meeting with Brazil.
Seven of Croatia’s last eight knockout games across World Cups and European Championships have now been decided in either extra time or by penalties.
They are wily, experienced operators who now how to etch out wins in tournament football. Japan in contrast are a youthful side packed with potential young stars like Mitoma.
The Samurai Blue will learn from defeat to Croatia, especially when it comes to penalties. Alan Shearer said afterwards: “It was like Japan have never practiced penalties, it looked that way. It was too big for them.”
Japan will be at the peak of their powers by the time the 2026 World Cup rolls around. Like Ecuador and their Albion contingent, the Samurai Blue might even arrive in the United States, Canada and Mexico as one of the dark horses to win the tournament.
They should certainly be aiming to go beyond the round of 16 for the first time in their history, enthralling the footballing world as they have in Qatar.
Mitoma will now enjoy a well-earned rest before returning to Brighton for the second half of the season. Such has his impact been on the Albion and the World Cup that you can easily forget he has only started two Premier League matches.
Those games ended in victories over Chelsea and Wolves. With Mitoma flying down the wing, anything seems possible for the Albion once the campaign resumes on Boxing Day.
