Japan beats Germany

(April 24, 2010) - The first match between the two strongest football nations outside of North America, Japan and Germany, ended with a 24-14 victory for two-time World Cup winner Japan in front of more than 11.000 fans at the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. Overall the game was pretty even. The german offense held a six minute advantage in time of possession, Japan’s offense had about 60 more yards in total offense. The difference were three turnovers by the german offense. Especially costly were a fumble and an interception in the third quarter which resulted in two touchdowns for Team Japan. On the third play of Germany’s second possession in the third quarter WR Dominic Hanselmann lost the ball after catching a 5-yard pass at his own 21-yard line. S Daisuke Ueki (Fujitsu Frontiers) recovered the fumble at Germany’s 23-yard line. Four plays later Japan increased the lead to 17-7 when QB Tetsuo Takata (Panasonic Denko Impulse) threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to WR Noriaki Kinoshita.
Germany’s next possession ended again after just three plays - this time with an interception by CB Tadanari Sano at Germany’s 39-yard line and a 17-yard return to the 22-yard line. Three plays later Japan went up by 17 points (24-7) with an 8-yard touchdown pass to WR Shoei Hasegawa (Panasonic Denko Impulse). The german team, though, did not give up and answered Japan’s touchdown with an 11-play 76-yard drive and an 8-yard touchdown run by RB Jerome Morris with just under nine minutes left to play. After Japan missed a 37-yard field goal attempt eight plays later Germany startet another long drive that ended after 13 plays at Japan’s 24-yard line when the german team needed six yards for a new first down but Morris lost seven yards instead.

(Text: Dieter Hoch)

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