Japan vs Spain: Japan shocked Spain with an amazing comeback win of 2-1. This put the Samurai Blue on top of Group E and knocked Germany out of the World Cup.
Alvaro Morata scored the first goal with a header in a strong first half, but Ritsu Doan and Ao Tanaka scored two goals in a short amount of time after the break to turn the whole group on its head.
Sergio Busquets blasted a shot over the crossbar early on, and then he almost let in a goal for the other team right after. The midfielder’s sloppy touch put Japan in on goal, but Junya Ito’s shot went into the side netting.
In the 11th minute, Morata gave Spain the lead when he got up highest to meet a cross from Cesar Azpilicueta and head the ball home.
La Roja kept Japan from getting back into the game by just keeping possession. Half an hour into the game, they had nearly 80% of the ball, and by the end of a one-sided first 45 minutes, they had 83%.
Just three minutes into the second half, however, Japan tied it up with a thunderous strike from substitute Doan. His powerful shot from the edge of the box was too much for Unai Simon to handle.
Almost right away, it was 2-1. Tanaka tipped in a shot that was initially ruled out because the ball looked to have gone out of play in the lead-up, but VAR overturned the decision and gave the goal.
Spain tried and tried to get an equalizer, and Dani Olmo found some space in the box later on, but his weak shot was easily saved by Shuichi Gonda.
In the end, though, Spain rarely tested the Japanese goalkeeper, and they had to settle for second place in the group.
Japan player ratings
GK: Shuichi Gonda – 6/10 – Even though he couldn’t do much about the goal, he made some good saves.
CB: Ko Itakura, 6/10. He let Morata score the first goal, but he made up for it with a good block.
CB: Maya Yoshida – 7/10 – I got a yellow card for a “foul” on Morata, which was a shame, but I couldn’t really keep up with the striker anyway. After Morata was killed, they looked much stronger.
Shogo Taniguchi was chasing shadows in the first half, but he did a great job of getting back on track after the break.
RM: Junya Ito – 8/10 – He didn’t do anything in the first half, but he played like a monster after the break.
CM: Hidemasa Morita gets a 6/10. He makes some good challenges, but his passes aren’t good enough.
CM: Ao Tanaka, 8/10. After the break, he showed a lot of attacking skills and scored the second goal.
LM: Yuto Nagatomo got a 2/10 because the first half wasn’t very good. He was hooked at halftime.
RW: Daichi Kamada got a 4/10 because he had trouble getting involved and had to be taken out of the game at the hour mark to protect the lead.
ST: Daizen Maeda – 5/10 – Found it hard to get involved when he had the ball, but his work when he didn’t have it was great. Very good pressing.
Takefusa Kubo got a 2/10 for his 45-minute performance because he didn’t do much.
Substitutes: Ritsu Doan (8/10) for Kubo in the 46th minute. Quality was injected right away. Lucky to reach his goal, but he deserved it.
Kaoru Mitoma came on in place of Nagatomo in the 46th minute. He got low to help defend and looked like a big threat whenever he got forward.
SUB: Takuma Asano (62′ for Maeda) – 5/10 – Didn’t seem to know where to go in the sea of Spanish attacks. They should have ended the game.
Takehiro Tomiyasu (68′ for Kamada): 7/10. Really strong when it counted.
SUB: Wataru Endo (87′ for Tanaka) – N/A
Manager: Hajime Moriyasu – 7/10 – Did he pick the wrong people to start? So what? Great changes and it was clear that it was the perfect team talk.
Player Rating for Spain
Busquets looked nervous. Fantasista/Getty Images GK: Unai Simon: 5/10. Nervous with the ball at his feet and caught it once or twice.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 7/10. There was a Chelsea connection with Morata because Azpilicueta helped Morata score the same kind of goal over and over again in the 2017-18 season.
CB: Rodri (6/10): He made more passes in the first half than the whole Japan team.
CB: Pau Torres (6/10): He had the same number of passes as Rodri, but he wasn’t as good at it. At times, took a few too many risks.
LB: Alejandro Balde – 6/10 – He was always a part of Spain’s best moments, but he also did his job on defense.
DM: Sergio Busquets – 5/10 – There were a few tense moments in the middle of the field. lucky not to be punished right away.
CM: Gavi got a 6/10 because he was so good with the ball in the first half but got worse after halftime.
Pedri was the best player in the first half, but after the goals were scored, he lost control of the game.
Nico Williams, right-wing, gets a 6/10 for a few nice moves down the right wing. When he had the ball, he looked like a real threat.
ST: Alvaro Morata – 8/10 – A real master class in how to move. Some of his runs were great, and he made it to the goal with little trouble.
LW: Dani Olmo – 7/10 – In charge during the first half. As he looked for the killer ball, he pulled on the strings.
Substitutes SUB: Dani Carvajal (46′ for Azpilicueta) – 4/10 – It looks like the legs are gone. looked out of place right away.
Ferran Torres came on in place of Williams in the 57th minute. He hugged the sideline and sent crosses to the striker, who left as soon as he came on.
SUB: Marco Asensio (57′ for Morata) – 5/10 – Couldn’t get through Japan’s strong defensive line.
Jordi Alba, who came in for Balde in the 68th minute and got a score of 5/10, had trouble with Tomiyasu.
SUB: Ansu Fati (68′ for Gavi) – 5/10 – Wasn’t as influential as he should have been.
Manager: Luis Enrique – 4/10 – It was strange to take Morata off to try to score when crosses kept coming in.
Kaoru Mitoma was the best player in the game.
