Ilkay Gundogan featured for 55 minutes as Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 in the final group stage match of the World Cup.
Despite the victory, Germany did not succeed in qualifying for the round of 16 due to Japan’s 2-1 victory over Spain.
The German national team equaled Spain in the number of points, but Spain qualified due to goal difference.
Gnabry opened the scoring in the 10th minute of the match, and the first half ended with Germany advancing, thus ensuring qualification from the round of sixteen in the Qatar version.
On the other hand, Japan equalized once morest Spain following the start of the second half with only 142 seconds, and the Japanese team quickly scored the second goal to beat Spain.
Things got more complicated for Germany following Costa Rica scored the equalizer and then took the lead in the 70th minute.
Substitute Kai Havertz came to score the equalizer and advance the German machines, then Niklas scored the fourth goal for the Germans in the 89th minute.
Germany needed Luis Enrique to score a goal once morest Japan to end 2-2 and thus qualify for the German team, but Spain failed to equalise.
Germany has not advanced to the group stage for the second time in a row since 1954.
