With all the anguish in the world, Spain went to the round of 16. A classification on track was seen stumbled by a ugly loss to Japan. Ugly because of the non-existent response from the team in the second half and ugly because of the weaknesses discovered by the Japanese team, which got into with greatness in the round of 16 and with enough capacity to worry their new rival: Croatia. Spain’s will be Morocco. Tuesday, December 6 at 4:00 p.m.
Japan passed with more dignity than Spain, moved to second place and transferred to the friendliest part of the picture as an immediate repercussion of the stumbling block, surely the only positive one. The first place drew a horizon with qualifying rounds against Croatia and a hypothetical quarter-final against Brazil; the second place referred to the duel with the North African country and another later one with Portugal.
from surprise to surprise
Unless in that group the surprises continue. She is already involved in the World Cup. The first shock was caused by the United States and the second by Australia. Morocco and Japan destroyed the forecasts this Thursday and two groups remain to be decided. The day brought the elimination of Belgium, whose coach, Robert Martinez, He immediately left office, and that of Germany, amazing and unthinkable, even if they beat Costa Rica (4-2), which does not erase from his face the pallor that the four-time champion has left with the early return home.
A disaster with which Spain flirted. He played with fire, from a line-up that gave off a certain relaxation, continuing with football that was losing speed until ending with a more symbolic than effective defeat. It had no irreparable consequences. Little was missing.
three minutes out
Spain was eliminated for three minutes, which was the time that Costa Rica’s victory endured, between Vargas’s goal (m. 70) and Havertz’s equalizer (m. 73). The anxiety that existed in the Al Bayt stadium, the furthest from Doha, was immediately transmitted to the Khalifa, where the Japanese triumph was settled and Luis Enrique was fighting to reverse it with substitutions. Another rush from Costa Rica, closer to the end of the game, could have been irreparable.
Spain lost the thread at halftime and no longer recovered it. He retired with the 1-0, relatively comfortable, with an easy goal from Morata in a precise cross from Azpilicueta who found his partner, while Yoshima signaled to Itakura to keep an eye on the man from Madrid.
Morata, as Zarra
Morata played for the first time as a starter and took advantage of the opportunity that was presented to him to match Zarra, big words, to score in three consecutive World Cup matches. It dated the unbeatable record since 1950, which can be erased against Morocco in the round of 16.
Luis Enrique took advantage of the opportunity to accelerate the maturation of Balde and Williams as future starters, if there is such a category for the coach. Yes, yes it exists. Busquets has it, by gallons, the thread that unites the new generation with the champions, hooked with glue in the lineup that not even the threat of a suspension took off.
two new headlines
Was the Balde’s first ownership, incorporated by the emergency route after the injury of Gayà and the first of Williams. None finished the game. Luis Enrique called Ferran and Asensio to replace Williams and Morata to try to fix the mess, although the problem was not up front. She was further back.
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Japan closed the passing lines well, with two lines of five and four very close together and Maeda as a striker, more on top of Rodri to force Pau Torres to be the one to take the ball from behind.
The ability of their footballers to react quickly, their dynamism to recover the position immediately after being overcome in a duel or a line break ended up exhausting Spain’s mettle, completely broken as soon as the break was resumed. Doan and Tanaka’s stings were nailed to the Spanish back. They did damage. It will be seen how much. But in eighths.