Sealing his second consecutive debacle in a World Cup, Germany defeated this Thursday 4-2 the also eliminated Costa Rica in a dramatic match in which both teams came to have the ticket to the round of 16 in their hands, which ended up escaping them.
With a partial 2-1 victory, Costa Rica was virtually classified for three minutes and left Spain and Germany out of the round of 16, an earthquake of similar proportions to the one it caused in Brazil-2014.
Finally, Germany turned the score around and brought Spain back to life, who was second in Group E with 4 points despite their 2-1 defeat against Japan, leader with 6. Spain will play the round of 16 against Morocco and Japan against Croatia.
Germany finished in third place also with 4 points but with a goal difference that benefited Spain, while Costa Rica was last with 3 points.
As in Russia-2018, Germany and Costa Rica fell in the group stage. Serge Gnabry, in the 10th minute, Kai Havertz (73 and 85) and Niclas Füllkrug (89) scored for
Germany and Yeltsin Tejeda (58) and Juan Pablo Vargas (70) for Costa Rica, in a match that was also remembered for two other milestones.
At the Al Bayt stadium (67,054 spectators) in Al Khor, on the outskirts of Doha, the French Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to direct a match of a men’s World Cup, assisted on the wings by the Mexican Karen Díaz and the Brazilian Neuza Back. In turn, the German Manuel Neuer emerged as the goalkeeper with the most matches played in the maximum tournament (19).
half an hour of madness
To secure a ticket for themselves, Germany needed to win by eight goals over Costa Rica, a team that had already conceded a 7-0 defeat to Spain. The German siege paid off in minute 10 with a pinpoint cross from left-back David Raum and a cross from Gnabry’s header that Keylor Navas couldn’t reach.
With that goal it seemed that Costa Rica’s dream of a feat like that of Brazil-2014 was fading away when they were able to lead a group that included England, Italy and Uruguay.
With the advantage on the scoreboard and a goal from Spain in the other game, Germany breathed second and continued to attack but without the same sense of urgency.
One after the other, Musiala, Kimmich and Sané were out of tune in the definition against Navas and Costa Rica responded with a big scare at halftime. Keyshon Fuller, scorer of the goal against Japan, was about to score an identical target when he took advantage of two consecutive errors in clearance by Raum and Rüdiger to plant himself in front of Neuer, who pulled out a saving hand to send the whiplash for a corner.
After this announcement, the total turnaround for Germany came with the start of the second half, in which Japan came from behind with two goals against Spain and left the Germans out of the standings.
Immediately afterwards, the madness moved to the stands of the Al Bayt stadium when it was Costa Rica that came back from behind. His first goal came with an assist from Fuller for Waston, who headed past Neuer’s body but Tejeda appeared to spike the net.
And 12 minutes later, Costa Rican dreams came true when a ball from the small area was hit into the net by Juan Pablo Vargas before Neuer left. The few thousand Costa Rican fans exploded with joy and Keylor Navas raised his arms to heaven and prayed.
Costa Rica was virtually classified for their third round of 16 until Germany, who had sent two balls to the woodwork through Musiala, tied with a back-heeled pass from Füllkrug for Kai Havertz to score.
The Chelsea striker himself made it 3-2 in the 85th minute by finishing just a service from Gnabry’s right.
Germany still made it 4-2 through Niclas Füllkrug but needed Spain to tie Japan. The goal of ‘La Roja’ did not arrive and the Germans suffered another immense disappointment two years after they host the 2024 Euro Cup.
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Con AFP