Japan staged a dramatic comeback win against Spain as both teams advanced from Group E to the World Cup knockout stages, but Germany exited the tournament despite beating Costa Rica on a night of high drama in Qatar.
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Japan overcame Spain 2-1 at Khalifa International Stadium thanks to goals in the space of three minutes in the second half from Ritsu Doan and Ao Tanaka.
In the other game of the Group E finale, Germany defeated Costa Rica 4-2 at Al Bayt Stadium – but it wasn’t enough for the Germans, who finished second to Spain on goal difference.
Japan wins Group E with six points, moving on to the round of 16, ahead of Spain in second place with four points.
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In the end, Spain owed a lot to the 7-0 victory they had against Costa Rica in their initial game since it gave them a clear advantage over Germany, who had shockingly lost their opening game in Qatar to the Japanese.
Following their early exit from Russia four years ago, the Germans have now endured the humiliation of consecutive World Cup group stage losses after winning the tournament in Brazil in 2014.
The Group E standings were well balanced going into Thursday night, but few could have predicted the extraordinary denouement that took quite as many unexpected turns.
Alvaro Morata’s header, his third of the World Cup, gave Spain the lead against Japan in the 11th minute, setting them up to easily win the group.
After the break, however, things quickly changed. Ritsu Doan fired in a shot from the edge of the box in the 48th minute, but Unai Simon was unable to block it.
Three minutes later, Ao Tanaka scored Japan’s first goal by turning in a cutback from Kaoru Mitoma.
It took some time for a VAR assessment to ascertain whether Mitoma had been successful in stopping the ball from going out before he turned it back across the box.
The choice seemed to come down to the tiniest of details, but the strike was official and Japan was in control.
Spain was seemingly coasting along, but due to events in the Germany-Costa Rica match, they suddenly found themselves in difficulty.
In the 10th minute, Serge Gnabry gave the Germans some optimism, but Costa Rica responded with goals from Yeltsin Tejeda and Manuel Neuer’s own goal to take the lead 2-1.
At that point, Japan and Costa Rica were in top and second place, respectively, as they made their way through.
However, the drama was not over as Germany rallied for a 4-2 victory behind a double from Kai Havertz and a late goal from Niclas Fullkrug.
However, it wasn’t enough because Spain had a five-goal advantage over Germany in goal differential in the rankings.
On Monday, Japan will play Croatia, who finished second in Group F, in an effort to advance to the quarterfinals.
