Japan has defeated the World Cup favorite Spain, on Thursday in Qatar in order to win Group E taking their spot in the round of 16. During the match Spain had a chance of being knocked out entirely, however, Germany ended up defeating Costa Rica, 4-2, which let Spain move on to the round of 16 due to a goal differential tiebreaker.
Despite winning, Germany was taken out of the World Cup and went home disappointed. With Germany winning all they needed was Spain to win over Japan, which would have left Japan with only three points in the World Cup, and would have allowed Germany to move on to the round of 16 by one point in the group.
Alvaro Morato got Spain on the scoreboard with a header on a cross from Cesar Azpilicueta that went past Japan’s goalkeeper Schuichi Gonda at the 11th minute mark. However, as the second half of the game got started, Ritsu Doan scored at the 48th minute striking the ball past Spain’s Unai Simon in net.
Spain kept going, knowing that at one point there was a chance for them to go home, as Costa Rica was leading Germany, 2-1. Although Germany scored three second half goals to win their match, it wasn’t enough giving Spain exactly what they needed. Spain was able to have possession towards the end of the match, and Japan was trying to hold them off in order to move on to the knockout stage. If they let up a goal, they would have went home instead of Germany.
As Japan and Spain move forward, they will wait for their opponents from Group H and Group G that play on Friday to decide who plays who in the round of 16 teams in the knockout stage.
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