Japan's winning goal in Wednesday's surprise victory over Germany was one of the easiest ever scored at a World Cup, according to Ilkay Gundogan.
Gundogan appeared to have put Germany on course for victory when he converted a first-half penalty, but Japan hit back in sensational fashion after half-time through two Bundesliga attackers.
Freiburg's Ritsu Doan levelled after Manuel Neuer pushed Takumi Minamino's cross into his path, before Bochum winger Takuma Asano sent Japan's fans into raptures with a powerful near-post finish late on.
Asano's winner was the result of some dismal defending from Niklas Sule, who inexplicably played the 28-year-old onside from Ko Itakura's long ball, and Gundogan cannot recall a more straightforward goal being scored on the biggest stage.
"We made it too easy for Japan, especially with the second goal. I don't know if an easier goal has ever been scored at a World Cup," Gundogan told reporters.
"It can't happen. This is a World Cup. We dominated the game for the most part, Manu [Neuer] saved us once in the second half. That's why we have him.
"We had incredible opportunities up front, but we didn't score the second goal. How the goals came about was far too easy.
"There was a bit of a lack of conviction that we could hold the ball and move, that we could offer ourselves.
"We relied on long balls in the second half and the short balls we played were lost easily and quickly. You felt like not everyone wanted the ball."
As well as dealing a blow to the hopes of the country where they ply their trade, Doan and Asano became the first pair of substitutes to score in a single World Cup game against Germany.
Wednesday's game also represented Japan's first win against Die Mannschaft, with the Samurai Blue having posted one loss and one draw in the teams' two previous meetings.
Aleksandar Mitrovic is back training with Serbia and out of pain after his foot injury, as his country hope he will be fit to feature against Brazil on Thursday.
Mitrovic scored the goal to send Serbia to the World Cup, heading home in the 90th minute against Portugal in November 2021 to clinch top spot in their qualifying group and an automatic place in Qatar.
But Mitrovic, who has scored 50 goals in 76 games for his country, missed Fulham's final game before joining up with Serbia due to a foot issue.
Serbia head coach Dragan Stojkovic previously joked Mitrovic would go to the World Cup "without a leg", and he had a positive update on the striker's fitness ahead of their opener with pre-tournament favourites Brazil in Group G.
"Mitrovic has been working with the team," Stojkovic told reporters. "He's out of pain where he was injured, that's obviously good news."
However, Stojkovic was more pessimistic over the availability of Juventus' Filip Kostic, saying: "Kostic has muscle problems and it's doubtful.
"I want to be very honest, I have nothing to hide."
Following Thursday's meeting with Brazil, Serbia will take on Cameroon on Monday before facing Switzerland four days after that.
Gavi marked becoming Spain's youngest player at a major tournament with a goal in an emphatic 7-0 win over Costa Rica as La Roja kicked off their Qatar 2022 campaign in style.
Group E rivals Germany suffered a shock 2-1 loss to Japan earlier on Wednesday, but Spain did not look under any threat after Dani Olmo gave them an 11th-minute lead.
That was La Roja's 100th World Cup goal and another two followed inside the opening 31 minutes through Marco Asensio's strike and a Ferran Torres penalty.
Torres doubled his tally early in the second half and Gavi then steered in a delightful volley, before substitutes Carlos Soler and Alvaro Morata added two more late on.
Bastian Schweinsteiger criticised Germany's defence after a shock 2-1 defeat in their World Cup opener against Japan on Wednesday.
The former Germany international and 2014 World Cup winner singled out Niklas Sule, who was utilised at right-back by head coach Hansi Flick instead of his usual position as centre-back.
Germany took the lead through an Ilkay Gundogan penalty in the first half, before goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano dramatically turned things around in the second.
Speaking to German broadcaster ARD, Schweinsteiger said: "We made big mistakes again in defence, and as long as we do that we will lose games, it's that simple!"
The former Bayern Munich and Manchester United midfielder then went into detail on Doan's equaliser, highlighting Sule and substitute Leon Goretzka.
"Now, please, let's pay attention to the behaviour of Niklas Sule and Leon Goretzka," he said.
"Niklas Sule is a defender. And if someone comes at you in a one-on-one, you don't let them run inside, but close the inside lane and let them run out – less can happen there.
"Sule gives [Kaoru Mitoma] the chance to pull inside and play the pass. Goretzka doesn't get there after that and then stops.
"I don't like that. This is not good. This is very, very bad. Sure, the ball then deflects to Doan, but I didn't like the behaviour before that.
"That wasn't good enough for a defender like Sule. It's a classic, really serious defensive mistake."
As Schweinsteiger continued, suggesting Borussia Dortmund defender Sule should have been more aware of the positioning of centre-back pair Antonio Rudiger and Nico Schlotterbeck, fellow pundit and former Germany international Sami Khedira agreed, saying: "That's a very blatant mistake.
"As a full-back away from the ball, you always have to look to the central defenders for orientation."
Hansi Flick knows Germany are now "under pressure" but would not accept their focus on the OneLove campaign as an excuse for their defeat to Japan.
Germany lost 2-1 at Khalifa International Stadium on Wednesday in a match that appeared set to be second billing to a demonstration ahead of kick-off prior to the second-half turnaround.
Die Mannschaft captain Manuel Neuer did not go through with wearing the OneLove armband, which promotes "inclusion and sends a message against discrimination of any kind", with those planning to wear the armband having been threatened with sanctions by FIFA.
Instead, Germany's players lined up for their pre-match team photo with their hands over their mouths, saying FIFA was "denying us a voice".
Much of the attention around the match was on this even after Ilkay Gundogan opened the scoring from the penalty spot, but goals from Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano dealt Germany a stunning defeat.
Asked if their protest had contributed to a below-par display, Flick replied: "No. We're not looking for excuses. That would be too easy.
"I said it ahead of the game, Japan have a strong team, great players with good technique, good tactics. They are well trained and they showed their strengths today. They played very efficiently.
"I would have liked to see that from my team, but we can't make excuses. We made too many mistakes."
These errors were "mistakes we should never make in a World Cup", Flick said, with the second goal that condemned them to "a great disappointment" particularly sloppy.
Germany certainly cannot afford to be distracted as they head into their second match against Spain, as Flick added: "We'll analyse this game as we always do.
"Spain is a different team, it is not Japan, and we'll have a different game plan.
"Of course, now with this defeat, we are under pressure, no question, and we're to blame. We can only blame ourselves.
"We have to make sure we can come out of this. We need to be courageous and decisive; we need the aggression in the game that's necessary at the World Cup."
Japan may now be in a stronger position, but they are likewise staying focused on their second group game versus Costa Rica.
"This is a big win, but it is not the end, obviously, so we were not going to get too happy or too sad," said coach Hajime Moriyasu. "We're going to prepare for the next game."
Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda added: "We would like to go to the quarter-final. That is our goal.
"This is our first step, and we are very pleased to have won. But our next game is against Costa Rica and we have to do our best again."
Thomas Muller described Germany's shock World Cup defeat to Japan as "ridiculous", but acknowledged Die Mannschaft's woeful defending meant they did not deserve a victory.
Germany looked set to make a positive start to their Group E campaign when Ilkay Gundogan put them ahead from the spot on Wednesday, but a remarkable comeback from Japan stunned the four-time winners.
Bundesliga pair Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano came off the bench to score in a famous win for the Samurai Blue, leaving Germany under huge pressure ahead of Sunday's meeting with Spain.
Having lost their opening game just once in their first 18 World Cup participations (W13 D4), Germany have now started with a defeat at consecutive tournaments.
Speaking to ARD after the reverse, Muller said: "In terms of feeling, we actually played a good game over long stretches.
"Of course, a good game in football is also characterised by the fact that you convert the chances and superiority into goals.
"The effectiveness at both ends didn't match. It's ridiculous that we are left with a defeat.
"But at the end of the day, when you see what we're leaving behind us and how we conceded the goals at the end, you would say in football jargon that it's not an undeserved loss."
Germany captain Manuel Neuer, meanwhile, lamented the team's slow start to the second half in his own post-match interview.
"I'm totally frustrated and upset that we gave up the game," Neuer said. "That was more than unnecessary. We created a lot of chances to score, so luck and bad luck go hand in hand.
"The imperative that we wanted to score the second goal was perhaps missing and we brought Japan back into the game.
"After the break, we didn't have that flow of play any more, didn't play with the self-confidence we had in the first half.
"It was a bit more difficult because they started higher, but we still have to play well."
Germany's defeat was their first after scoring the opening goal in a World Cup match since a shock quarter-final loss to Bulgaria at the 1994 tournament, ending their run of 25 such games without losing.
Hansi Flick's side must now bid to bounce back against Luis Enrique's men next time out, as they look to avoid consecutive group-stage World Cup exits.
Portugal will not be distracted by the furore surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo as they look to get their World Cup campaign up and running, says Ruben Dias.
Ronaldo's inflammatory interview with Piers Morgan has been the hot topic ahead of Portugal's opening Group H match in Qatar against Ghana on Thursday at Stadium 974.
Portugal's captain insisted no issues have been caused in the squad, despite what seemed a frosty exchange with his now ex-Manchester United team-mate Bruno Fernandes on the latter's arrival to the team's training camp.
Centre-back Dias, however, shrugged off any chance of Ronaldo's situation proving to be a distraction.
"I don't think Cristiano's affairs have put a dent whatsoever into what we are trying to achieve here, so I don't have much to say about it," Dias said in a press conference on Tuesday.
"I think we've talked about this enough, there's not much to add. As a team we will focus on the World Cup now and not other issues.
"We're focused on winning against Ghana. The best way to win is focus on one game at a time and that's the best way to have a successful path ahead of us."
Progressing from Group H will not be a simple task for Portugal.
Uruguay and South Korea are the other teams in the group, while Ghana head into their fourth World Cup with a talented squad, albeit one that is the youngest in the tournament.
Inaki Williams, who has switched allegiance from Spain, is a threat up top, with Mohammed Kudus and Thomas Partey enjoying fine seasons with Ajax and Arsenal respectively.
Indeed, since the start of detailed Opta World Cup data, Ghana have averaged the most shots per game in the World Cup among all teams competing in 2022 (19).
"Ghana are physically a strong team, technically as well. They have footballers who are playing at the top level in Europe," added Dias.
"We are aware we are facing a very dangerous team. We’re focused on what we are doing, but aware of the difficulties that Ghana will bring."
Portugal – Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo loves silencing his critics, and what better stage to do it? The 37-year-old is looking to become the first player to score at five different World Cup finals.
All of Ronaldo's seven goals in the tournament have come in the group stage. He has scored the most goals of any player in the competition who is yet to find the net in the knockout stages (six such appearances without a goal).
Ghana – Mohammed Kudus
Kudus revealed earlier this week that he came close to joining Everton in August, but if the 22-year-old carries his club form into the World Cup, he might well be the subject of interest from bigger teams in January.
He has scored 10 goals for Ajax this term, with four of those coming in the Champions League, from six appearances.
With Williams ahead of him and Partey behind, Kudus could be one to watch in Qatar.
PREDICTIONS
Portugal are heavy favourites based on Opta's predictor model, which gives Fernando Santos' side a 69.6 per cent chance of victory.
Ghana, who lost 2-1 to Portugal in the 2014 World Cup, are handed an 11.9 per cent chance, with the draw at 18.5.
Ousmane Dembele says he has "matured" as a person and a player since France last the World Cup in 2018, following a victorious start to their title defence against Australia.
The Barcelona winger started as Didier Deschamps' side bounced back from an early Craig Goodwin finish to win 4-1 in Al Wakrah, thanks to an Olivier Giroud double and goals from Adrien Rabiot and Kylian Mbappe.
Having been an unused substitute four years ago as Les Bleus beat Croatia in the final in Russia, Dembele is looking to play his part in what he hopes to be a successive World Cup triumph.
With his Blaugrana form having turned a corner after a prolonged saga over his future at the club, he feels he is in a stronger place to contribute now for the national team at Qatar 2022.
"There has been three difficult seasons with Barcelona," he stated. "When you look at the first two games [I played in] 2018 and this year there is a lot of difference.
"I have matured. I didn't have a healthy lifestyle as you can imagine, [though] it wasn't a party! But I'm a little older now, [at] 25."
France's recovery ensured they dodged an upset against Australia, but other heavyweight favourites have been less fortunate so far at the World Cup.
Argentina were stunned by lowly Saudi Arabia, while Germany, looking to recover from a chastening campaign in Russia, failed to stop a comeback from Japan.
Dembele says it leaves a warning that no match is easy at Qatar 2022, and that bigger sides write off theoretical underdogs at their peril.
"There are no small teams," he added. "Everyone knows how to play football, how to work on tactics. We saw that with Saudi Arabia.
"When you lower the intensity, you get trapped. But with our team, if we put all the ingredients together, we will not have to worry."
France are next in action when they play Denmark in Group D on November 26, before their final group stage match against Tunisia four days later.
Rodrygo is confident he can deliver for Brazil at the World Cup as he looks to bring an end to 20 years of "suffering".
The South American giants open their campaign on Thursday against Serbia and are among the favourites in Qatar as they seek to end two decades of dominance from European nations.
Having triumphed in 2002, Brazil have since been knocked out at the quarter-finals in three of the last four tournaments, while being hammered 7-1 by Germany at the semi-final stage on home soil in 2014.
At 21, Rodrygo is too young to remember the last triumph by the five-time winners but has experienced his fair share of pain as a supporter and set his sights on involvement in Qatar following Brazil's defeat to Belgium four years ago.
"Man, we've been suffering for 20 years. I was crying when we lost in 2006," he wrote for the Player's Tribune.
"In 2010, I was in Osasco seeing people paint the streets green and yellow. Nobody was working. School? Forget it. It's not that I skipped school. There was no school. Even the teachers had fled.
"In 2014, I watched it with my dad in Minas Gerais. I prefer not to talk about it. I'm not even going to say the result.
Japan staged a sensational fightback to deal Germany a shock 2-1 defeat in their World Cup opener as Bundesliga players Ritsu Doan and Takuma Asano came off the bench to stun the four-time winners.
Germany made headlines by covering their mouths in a pre-match protest against FIFA's decision to ban Manuel Neuer from wearing the OneLove armband, and they looked set to make a positive start in Group E when Ilkay Gundogan converted a first-half penalty.
Hansi Flick's side then squandered several golden opportunities to put the game to bed before Freiburg forward Doan made them pay from a rebound 15 minutes from time.
With Germany chasing a winner, there was to be one final twist as Asano raced onto a long ball before firing beyond Neuer, leaving Die Mannschaft under huge pressure ahead of Sunday's meeting with Spain.
Brazil must take advantage of having Neymar in his "best mode" at the World Cup, according to captain Thiago Silva.
Neymar heads to Qatar in supreme form. He has directly contributed to 26 goals for Paris Saint-Germain, scoring 15 and setting up a further 11 this season.
His tally of goal involvements is the joint-most in the top-five European leagues, along with Erling Haaland (23 goals, three assists) and club-mate Lionel Messi (12 goals, 14 assists).
With 75 international goals to his name, Neymar needs just three more to overtake Pele and become Brazil's all-time leading scorer.
Neymar's injury in the quarter-finals of Brazil's home world cup in 2014 is often cited as a major factor in the 7-1 thrashing to Germany that followed in the last four, while he struggled to carry the team in Russia four years later, with the Selecao losing to Belgium in the quarter-finals.
But with Vinicius Junior, Richarlison, Gabriel Jesus, Rodrygo and Raphinha supporting Neymar in attack, Silva believes Brazil have to make their attacking quality count.
"Neymar has a good level for this competition," Silva said in a press conference ahead of Brazil's clash with Serbia on Thursday.
"Now, without injury or worry, we see a better Neymar. Best of all, he is humble.
"Our group has welcomed all of our colleagues and in my opinion they will make Neymar even more at ease.
"We will share our responsibilities as players and that will help us move forward. I think we need to take advantage of this best Neymar mode."
It has been 20 years since Brazil won their fifth World Cup, and Silva – who was captain in 2014 but not in Russia – believes that only serves as extra inspiration.
"The 2002 win is a great inspiration for all of us," he explained. "We have images of all the World Cups we have won and that’s a source of inspiration and motivation so we can continue making history.
"We know it’s up to us. I know those who could lift the World Cup in the past have had beautiful stories. It makes me even more motivated to honour our jersey."
Silva believes the blend of youth and experience in Tite's squad is ideal, as the 38-year-old claimed his experience of captaining Brazil in their disappointing campaign on home soil has only benefitted his own development.
He said: "Nowadays I am better prepared. Sometimes we need to learn the hard way.
"Our coaches can tell us but in the end we are the ones who need to learn from our experiences. I am calm, I am at ease, having the trust of all my colleagues.
"I'm now enjoying the best version of Thiago Silva. I think I'm living the best moments of my career."
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic believes his team lacked "courage" as they were held by Morocco in their World Cup opener, with Luka Modric offering a similar opinion.
The 2018 runners-up were big favourites to claim an opening-day win that would have been big step towards progression from a group that also features Belgium and Canada.
While Croatia enjoyed just shy of 65 per cent of the ball, they only managed to craft two clear opportunities at Al Bayt Stadium on Wednesday.
The first, a prodded Nikola Vlasic effort, was saved well by Yassine Bounou at the end of the second half, and just before the break Sofyan Amrabat made a vital block to keep Dejan Lovren's attempt out of the bottom-left corner.
Nevertheless, their accumulative expected goals figure of 0.66 highlighted a general lack of attacking authority, which Modric was eager to point out.
"We'll be better, we need to adopt a more proactive attitude and pass the group, that's our primary objective, to qualify," Modric told reporters.
"We had a great defence, what we were missing was a goal. We'd have had more luck if we'd had a more proactive attitude."
It was put to Dalic that Croatia underwhelmed considering their greater share of possession and he did not disagree.
He added: "You're right when you say that regarding ball possession and control. Our opponents were good, compact, and faster than us sometimes.
"They were behind our midfield and wingers, so we had a problem with making [attacking] passes.
"We should've gone forward more. We were afraid of counters, we were cautious about mistakes and indecisive.
"A bit of courage was missing on our part. We had control but not enough opportunities or decisiveness. We didn't go forward as much as we wanted to."
Perhaps predictably, Croatia's journey to the 2018 final was soon brought up, but Dalic felt it was irrelevant to start comparing the two squads and insisted Wednesday's disappointment will not alter their ambitions of going far.
"We cannot draw comparisons between the two generations," he said. "It's difficult to draw comparisons between the generation of four years ago and this.
"We know we have competence and we are prepared to fight. We will not be deterred and won't be stopped in our ambition. We are moving on; tomorrow is another day and that's it. This is going to be a tough tournament, for sure."
A point certainly appeared a better result for Morocco than it did for Croatia, even if the Atlas Lions are still searching for their first World Cup win since 1998.
There rarely looked to be any danger of Morocco stealing a victory, though, with Dominik Livakovic in the Croatian net barely troubled.
Morocco coach Walid Regragui disagreed with the suggestion his side lacked bravery, however.
"Not exactly because we wanted to win, but the strategy worked. We played like a European team. Morocco managed to create chances, and in fact we played a balanced way, a solid way, and it was difficult for Croatia.
"It was not fear. We see that this was only our first match. Maybe we could've played better, but we take every match as it comes, and still I know we should be in possession more and adapt to each opponent.
"I think the possession was 65 per cent for them, but I think when we had it we were more efficient. We'd have preferred that we had a different outcome but still I think we did well."
Germany's players protested FIFA's decision to ban Manuel Neuer from wearing the OneLove armband by covering their mouths ahead of their World Cup opener, as the team declared: "Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice."
Germany were among several European sides to commit to wearing the armband in order to promote an anti-discriminatory message in Qatar, where same-sex relationships are criminalised.
However, the teams backed down ahead of their opening World Cup fixtures after being threatened with sporting sanctions by FIFA, which German Football Association (DFB) president Bernd Neuendorf suggested were more significant than a yellow card for the affected captains.
After taking to the pitch for their Group E meeting with Japan at the Khalifa International Stadium, Germany's players covered their mouths for the traditional pre-match photo to protest FIFA's handling of the row.
The team subsequently released a statement via social media, which read: "We wanted to use our captain's armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect.
"Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard.
"It wasn't about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn't the case. That's why this message is so important to us.
"Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position."
Germany captain Neuer was seen to have his armband checked by referee Ivan Barton Cisneros ahead of Wednesday's game.
Die Mannschaft also warmed up for the match wearing training shirts featuring rainbow-coloured trim in another apparent show of support for LGBTQ+ rights.
Harry Kane looks set to be available for England's next World Cup encounter with the United States after Jordan Pickford confirmed the Three Lions captain had trained with the rest of the squad.
The Three Lions' star striker was replaced by Callum Wilson during the 6-2 opening win against Iran on Monday and was subsequently sent for a scan on his ankle.
Kane's importance to Gareth Southgate's set-up has been illustrated over back-to-back tournaments, having won the Golden Boot at Russia 2018 and helped lead England to the Euro 2020 final last year.
Fears that he could miss Friday's Group B encounter with the USA look to have been dispelled by Pickford, however, who confirmed the Tottenham forward had been going through drills with his team-mates.
"I think he's good," the goalkeeper stated. "[He's] probably a bit sore, but he's out on the grass with us today. That's good, he's our captain and he's fine yeah.
"Everyone gave their all when he came off, Callum came on got the assist for Jack's [Grealish] goal and played well. Everyone's training well and working hard. Everyone's here for a reason to play football.
"Harry is an unbelievable player. He's a leader he's the captain, and we all look up for him. But there's also opportunities for other lads as well.
Kane failed to find the back of the net during his side's rampant opening victory, but could yet exceed Wayne Rooney's all-time England goalscorer record over the course of the tournament.
The Three Lions are top of Group B and will effectively qualify for the knockout rounds with a victory over the USA ahead of their final group stage game against Wales on November 29.
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