West Ham United defender Thilo Kehrer was left out of the Germany side for their opening World Cup match against Japan on Wednesday.
Kehrer, who has ben a regular for Germnay under the reign of current boss Hansi Flick, was left on the bench by Flick as the 2014 World Cup winners threw away a 1-0 lead to suffer a shock defeat 2-1 defeat in their Group E meeting with Japan.
Germany took the lead in the first half when Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan scored a penalty, but saw a second goal by Chelsea’s Kai Havertz on the stroke of half-time disallowed for offside.
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Following a string of big saves made by Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda, the Asian side got back into the game after the break through Ritsu Doan’s leveller 15 minutes from time. Eight minutes later, Takuma Asano took advantage of some slack German defending to latch onto a long pass and score to make it 2-1.
For Hammers defender Kehrer, he had to watch from the sidelines, despite starting in 14 of Germany’s previous 16 matches as Germany fell to a shock defeat in their Group E opener, four years after suffering another shock to an Asian side when losing to South Korea.
Germany will hope to get their World Cup back on track on Sunday evening when they face fellow Group E favourites Spain, who take on Costa Rica in their first game on Wednesday.
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