The duel between Spain and Japan in the last round of the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar caused enormous attention. After 2:1 against Germany, the Asian selection defeated another favorite, also by a reversal for 2:1, but this triumph of Japan can hardly be called sensational. The reason is that the Spaniards, by all accounts, did what many feared – calculated with the position in the table in order to find themselves on the easier side of the “skeleton” and avoid Brazil in the potential quarter-finals. At the same time, in the round of 16, they got Morocco as their rival instead of Croatia, which certainly suits them better.Japan beat Spain with just 17.7% possession, the lowest figure 𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍 recorded in World Cup history 🤯 pic.twitter.com/q55lKljyq4— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 1, 2022 Aware that the Germans cannot threaten them in the standings, as they needed a victory over Costa Rica by eight goals, the Spaniards did not sweat too much to equalize after Japan’s turnaround in the second half. They had the initiative at the end of the game, but without concrete pressure on the opponent’s goal, and the score remained 1:2. This led to the drop of Spain to the (desired) second position and the elimination of Germany.Who would have thought!? The Samurai beat Spain to top group EThe reason for doubt is also the bizarre fact that the Japanese reached three points with the smallest possession of the ball ever in a World Cup game. Only 18 percent! While the Spaniards, despite their complete dominance, shot 14 times, of which only five balls went into the frame of the goal. Not to mention Jose Enrique’s men made 1058 passes…Spain losing to Japan but kicking Germany out of the World Cup pic.twitter.com/am8cttAAYB— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) December 1, 2022 The Japanese players themselves noticed that something strange was happening on the field.”Everyone is talking about a miraculous victory, but I don’t see it that way. We played more and more aggressively, and I have the feeling that after Germany’s 3:2 lead, Spain didn’t attack so hard anymore” said Ao Tanaka, the scorer of the winning goal for Japan.What do you think about this Goal?#japan #JapanvsSpain #Spain #FIFAWorldCup #FIFAWorldCupQatar2022 #FIFAWorldCup2022 #Qatar2022 #QatarWorldCup2022 #Qatar #VAR #Goal pic.twitter.com/jWn8lrYbRV— FIFA World Cup 2022 (@FIFAWorldCup_GD) December 1, 2022 Fortuna Dusseldorf midfielder’s goal was the winning one, but was as controversial as any in this tournament. Ao Tanaka scored from close range, with a VAR review overturning the original decision to disallow the goal. The ball appeared to have clearly gone out of play before Kaoru Mitoma had crossed it back into the box for Tanaka to score and that led to a huge debate among the players, fans and pundits.“From my angle, I think the ball was clearly half out. But I could not see because of the speed and I was concentrating on scoring. There was always a possibility that it was out, so if it was out I would not have been disappointed. In the end, it was a goal so that was great” said Tanaka.##NAJAVA_MECA_6861990##
