Shinji Kagawa and his Japan teammates feel like they've been bitten hard by reality — the reality that they've made little progress from four years ago in South Africa.
"I've been preparing for this and if this is the result, this says a lot about me," Kagawa said Saturday, after Alberto Zaccheroni's side lost 2-1 to Cote d'Ivoire. "It really stings that we're having to look back on our first game in this way."
"We obviously weren't aggressive enough, just like we weren't against Brazil at the Confederations Cup last year. We scored the first goal but I don't think for one moment we were in control of the game.