Japan 2 – 1 Spain: Japan shock Spain to top Group E, but La Roja still progress
Japan produced another stunning upset as they beat Spain 2-1 to top Group E at the Khalifa International Stadium on Thursday.
Luis Enrique has made some changes for their encounter with Japan. César Azpilicueta, Pau Torres and Alejandro Balde come into the defence for Dani Carvajal, Aymeric Laporte and Jordi Alba. In attack, Nico Williams and Álvaro Morata replace Ferran Torres and Marco Asensio. Luis Enrique opted for a 4-1-2-3 rather than his usual 4-3-3.
Hajime Moriyasu has also made five changes for the Samurai Blue. Miki Yamane, Wateru Endo, Ritsu Doan, Yuki Soma and Ayase Ueda come in for Taniguchi, Take Kubo, Junya Ito, Ao Tanaka and Daizen Maeda. Takuma Asano, Kaoru Mitoma, Takumi Minamino and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain on the bench as options.
In the first minutes of the game and both teams created early chances. Spain had been dominating early possession, with Busquets firing a long-range effort just over the bar.
In the 11th minute, Spain opened the scoring in a simple play from the Spaniards. The former Chelsea boys linked up to devastating effect as Azpilicueta crossed for Morata to head home the opener.
After scoring, Spain settled down and slowed the game. La Roja were playing their usual fluent tiki-taka and Japan seemingly had no answer.
Japan then had their best chance of the first half. Daichi Kamada shot from the edge of the box but it was blocked well by Rodri. If it went through it would be offside. Frustration grew for Japan, as shown by their two yellow cards before halftime to Taniguchi and Yohsida.
In the first half, Spain had a 83% possession half and five shots on target as they looked to make sure of top spot in Group E.
Japan introduced a number of changes for the second half in response to Spains dominance. Kubo made way for Ritsu Doan, who scored against Germany. In the 48th minute, the striker scored made an instant impact and fired a brilliant shot that beat Unai Simon for power.
Japan then took a shock 2-1 lead. Doan fired a cross which Kaoru Mitoma somehow managed pull it back for Tanaka to tap home to send Japan top of the group. VAR reviewed the play to see if the ball went out but the goal was given after a lengthy VAR review.
Japan continued to pose a threat on the counter and nearly made it 3-1 when Asanos nearly ran through on goal. La Roja kept hold of possession but could do very little with it as Japan put up a very solid defensive unit.
La Roja were virtually camped in the Samurai Blue half. With 10 minutes to go, Spain were still going through with group leaders Japan, whereas Germany were crashing out of the group stage for the second consecutive World Cup even though they were beating Costa Rica 4-2.
Spain finally had their chance for an equaliser. Olmo played a lovely one-two with Ferran Torres, but the RB Leipzig mans shot was fired straight at Gonda.
La Roja were not able to break down the sturdy Japanese defence and the scenes at the final whistle were remarkable. Following defeat to Costa Rica and a victory over Germany, Japan beat Spain to somehow top Group E after a dramatic evening.
They will now face Croatia in the round of 16 on Monday. As for Spain, they just edged second place and they will now face a very solid looking Morocco side and will need a much better performance if they are to progress to the quarter-finals.
Germany once again, are out of the World Cup after the group stages along with Costa Rica.
