Japan recorded its second win over a World Cup giant in the group stage to win Group E in stunning fashion.
After defeating Germany in the group opener and losing to Costa Rica in their second match, the Samurai Blue shocked Spain with a 2–1 comeback victory that saw both Japan and Spain advance to the knockout stage. Japan will now face Croatia in the round of 16.
Despite the loss, Spain advanced to the knockout rounds due to superior goal differential over Germany thanks to its 7–0 win over Costa Rica in the group opener. La Furia Roja will now face Morocco in the round of 16, but there will be plenty to ponder after a flat performance against Japan.
Still, the headline coming out of the group will be Germany’s failure to make the knockout stage for the second straight World Cup. However, there was some controversy as Japan’s match-winning goal needed a lengthy VAR review to determine whether the ball went out of play before the goal. Replays appeared to show the bottom of the ball past the line, but the review determined that the entire ball did not leave the field of play as the goal was awarded.
But early on, Japan looked to be the more urgent side from the start as Spain tried to lull it to sleep by holding possession. But in the eighth minute, Japan nearly took advantage of a poor Spain clearance as the ball fluttered around the box before eventually finding Junya Ito, whose shot just missed the target as it went into the side netting.
In the other Group E game, Germany took an early lead in the 10th minute thanks to Serge Gnabry.
Spain followed that a minute later with a goal of their own courtesy of Álvaro Morata with his third goal of the tournament. César Azpilicueta sent a perfect cross into the box that found the Atlético Madrid striker, who calmly headed the chance in from point-blank range.
Morata nearly added a second in the 23rd minute when Gavi slipped in a pass behind the Japanese defense, but Morata’s shot was saved by Japan keeper Shuichi Gonda.
By halftime, Spain had recorded a whopping 83% of possession in the first half, but only had one goal and three shots on target to show for it.
The Samurai Blue struck right away after the break to even the score at 1–1 thanks to a halftime sub in Ritsu Doan. Doan, who scored against Germany, took advantage of a bad clearance by Spain keeper Unai Simòn, and sent the chance back toward goal as Simon could only get a hand on the goalbound shot.
Japan continued to shock Spain with a second goal in three minutes. In the 51st minute, Doan was involved once again finding Kaoru Mitoma, whose ball into the box found Ao Tanaka for the goal. However, a lengthy VAR review awarded the goal despite the ball appearing to go over the endline before it was played into the box.
In the other Group E game, Costa Rica then scored against Germany in the 58th minute to even the score at 1–1. The second-half goals put Japan into first, for the time being, while Spain was in second over Costa Rica on goal differential.
Costa Rica added another remarkable goal in the 70th minute to give Los Ticos a 2–1 lead over Germany. A Costa Rica win and a Spain loss would have seen Japan and Costa Rica advance from the group.
But the Costa Rica celebration was short-lived with Germany scoring an equalizer just three minutes later. The 2–2 draw and a Japan win would have seen Japan and Spain through.
As Spain struggled to find an equalizer against Japan, Kai Havertz scored his second goal against Costa Rica to give Germany a 3–2 lead. However, a 2–1 Japan win combined with the Germany win still sent Japan and Spain through.
With the Germany lead, Spain knew that it could play the game out due to its superior goal differential (+6) since it was even on points with Germany (+1 goal differential). While Spain left with the loss, it also had perhaps the more envious knockout stage matchup vs. Morocco as the second-placed team in the group.
In the end, Group E finished with Japan in first on six points, Spain in second on four points and +6 goal differential, Germany third on four points and +1 goal differential and Costa Rica bottom on three points.
