Greatest World Cup Matches: Spain-Japan (2022)

Spain entered the 2022 World Cup as one of the favourites. Following their 2010 title Spain had been an eternal favorite with hugely talented sides based on the apparently neverending flow of talented players. 

Spain had qualified ahead of Sweden and Greece, only losing one match, but manager Luis Enrique was nevertheless criticised for the style and selection of players, in particular the veteran Atletico Madrid player Alvaro Morata. 

That said, the 2022 squad combined experience and youth: The captain was FC Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets, only player left from the legendary 2010 side. The goalkeeping post had been taken over by Bilbao’s Unai Simon, while the experienced Cesar Azpilicueta from Chelsea led a defense that included Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte, Villarreal’s Pau Torres, the Real Madrid veteran Dani Carvajal, as well as Barcelona players that included veteran Jordi Alba, and the youths Eric Garcia and Alejandro Balde. Midfielders included Macnhester City’s Rodri, Ateltico Madrid’s Koke and Marcos Llorente, as well as Barcelona youths Gavi and Pedri, both players who had already accumulated good experience despite their young age. There were few all-out strikers, but many players with strong offensive capabilities, that besides the criticised Morata also included Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio, Athletic Bilbao’s talented Nico Williams, RB Leipzig’s Dani Olmo, and Barcelona’s youths Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati. 

Seeded in the top layer for the World Cup draw, Spain ended in a difficult group that included Germany, Costa Rica and Japan. Spain opened against Costa Rica and completely dominated a match they won 7-0, immediately becoming a team to watch. In their second match they played Germany and tied 1-1, and were to face Japan in the last group match. 

Japan had made important advances in football since its co-hosting of the World Cup in 2002, but had never made it past the last-16 in a World Cup. Still, they were considered a side to look out for as more and more Japanese players were making their mark in their clubs, and the team had qualified by winning 15 of 18 matches. The veteran Eiji Kawashima from Strasbourg was goalkeeper, but was replaced by another experienced goalkeeper Shuishi Gonda, from Shimizu S-Pulse. The experienced Maya Yosida from Schalke 04 was captain of the team and led from defense, alongside Ko Itakura from Borussia Monchengladbach and Wataru Endo and Hiroki Ito, both from Stuttgart. Takehiru Tomiyasu from Arsenal, and two players from Kawasaki Frontale, Miki Yamane and Shogo Tanigushi completed a strong group of defenders. A solid midfield included Wataru Endo, also from VFB Stuttgart, Ritsu Doan from SC Freiburg, Kaoru Mitoma from Brighton & Hove Albion, Takuni Minamino from Monaco, Daichi Kamada from Eintracht Frankfurt, and Takefusa Kubo from Real Sociedad. Strikers included Takuma Asano from VFL Bochum, Daizen Maeda from Celtic and Ayase Ueda from Cercle Brugge. 

Perhaps they were underestimated by  big European sides, but that proved wrong as the Japanese, with many players from German clubs, defeated Germany 1-2 in their opening match, after coming back from 0-1 down. Japan were big favourites against Costa Rica, who nevertheless came back from their Spanish routing, and won 0-1. 

So before their last group match Japan needed a good result against Spain in order to qualify for the next round. 

Spain were favourites as manager Luis Enrique put on a strong side for the match, and already early on it showed as Spain had possession and pressure in the opening phase of the match. It only took 11 minutes before the oft-criticised Alvaro Morata put his head on a cross from Azpilicueta and brought Spain ahead 0-1. Spain continued to dominate a first half with few shots on goal, and with Spain leading in possession. 

With the score in the other match 1-0 for Germany, it meant that Japan were eliminated, and Manager Harime Morijasu made two offensive changes: Kaoru Mitoma came on for Yuto Nagatomo, and Rutsu Doan came on for Takefusa Kubo. The changes were similar to those Morijasu made against Germany, and exactly like in that match it was the Freiburg striker Ritsu Doan who soon scored with a wonderful left-footed strike from outside the box to the top right corner of the Spanish goal. 

The goal clearly shook the Spaniards, who seemed perplexed at the sudden Japanese dominance, and only three minutes Japan took the lead: A low cross into the Spanish area appeared to go past the goal-line as Kaoru Mitoma rushed to make a cross; he reached the ball and crossed it into Ao Tanake, who from close to the goal-line slotted the ball into goal. 

The Spaniards protested loudly that the ball had gone out of play, and it did appear so indeed on TV. But this is when the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) came in for a lengthy review and the goal was awarded with the argument that the ball was still touching the line, and thus still in play. 

VAR had been introduced at the 2018 World Cup, and this was surely one of the most marginal decisions: the ball appears to be out from a lot of angles, but from directly above, part of the curvature of the ball appears to still touch the line... 

With a 2-1 lead Japan naturally pulled back as Spain again took over the match; Spain had the ball almost all the time (they ended up with possession of 82% and 962 passes over Japan’s 188!), but was unable and without fantasy to force Japan’s disciplined and determined defense. 

In the other match Costa Rica surprisingly took the lead over Germany, a result that would mean that both Spain and Germany would be sensationally eliminated! Luis Enrique put in more strikers; chances only arrived towards the end of the match, but Japan held strong, and won the group. 

In the meantime, Germany managed to get back and win 4-2 over Costa Rica, meaning that Spain took second place in the group, while Germany and Costa Rica were out. The victory was historic for Japan, who topped a group for the first time since 2002 when they played at home. Nevertheless, they were eliminated in the last-16 after penalty kicks against Croatia, but surely will never forget this memorable (VAR) win over Spain.

Match Stats: 

• Qatar, December 1st, 2022, Khalifa International Stadium 
• Attendance: 44,851 
• Referee: Victor Gomes (South Africa) 

Spain-Japan 1-2 

Goals: 1-0 Alvaro Morata (11) 1-1 Ritsu Doan (48) 1-2 Ao Tanaka (51)

Teams: 

Spain: Unai Simon; Rodri, Pau Torres, Cesar Azpilicueta (Dani Carvajal, 46), Alejandro Balde (Jordi Alba, 68); Gavi (Ansu Fati, 68), Sergi Busquets, Pedri; Dani Olmo, Nico Williams (Ferran Torres, 57), Dani Olmo, Alvaro Morata (Marco Asensio, 57). Manager: Luis Enrique 

Japan: Shuishi Gonda; Ko Itakura, Maya Yoshida, Shogo Tanigushi; Junya Ito, Ao Tanaka (Wataru Endo, 87), Hidemasa Morita, Yuto Nagatomo (Kaoru Mitoma, 46); Take Kubo (Rutsu Doan, 46), Daizen Maeda (Takuma Asano, 62), Daichi Kamada (Takehiro Tomiyasu, 69). Manager: Hajime Moriyasu 

German debacle and Japanese triumph

 The Group of Death ended almost as a heart attack. All teams had a chance to go through and all teams were through and out at different times during the matches Costa Rica-Germany and Japan-Spain.

Costa Rica were not given many chances after their opening match 0-7 humiliation to Spain. But after a surprising win over Japan, they had every chance of going through if they defeated Germany. Germany in the meantime were forced to win, having only lost and tied to Japan and Spain respectively. Things were going according to plan when Serge Gnabry scored after 10 minutes, but despite dominating, Germany were simply unable to get another goal, and halfway into second half the Costa Ricans looked at a possible sensation when Yeltsin Tejeda equalized and then went ahead when Manuel Neuer scored one of the strangest own-goals of the tournament. Germany pressed on and in the end managed to win 4-2 with two Kai Havertz goals and one by Niclas Fullkrug.

But in the end Germany, the former footballing giants, were out in the first round nevertheless, for the second time in a row, and only the third time since 1938....

Germany only had themselves to blame, but at the same time they were not fortunate with the result of the other match where Japan defeated Spain against all odds.

It was a boring match in the first half. Spain went ahead on a goal by Alvaro Morata, and were passing the ball around comfortably against a Japanese side that appeared to have nothing to offer. Luis Enrique apparently saw no reason to change anything, but Japan certainly did and the manager put in Kaoru Mitoma to put more pressure in midfield and Ritso Doan, who had scored the equalizer against Germany when coming on. And it took only three minutes before the Freiburg striker capitalized on a high pressure on the Spanish defense and equalized for Japan.

The Spaniards appeared a bit shocked about the equalizer (which shows most of all a degree of arrogant conformity) and as Japan continued pressing they got the lead through Ao Tanaka.

Now, this was a controversial goal that no VAR technology can take away: the ball appears to have crossed the touchline as Kaoru Mitoma made the pass to Tanaka. I think it crossed, but lengthy VAR check found that it had not crossed the line. Although I still think it crossed the line, I must admit that different pictures from different angles may show different things...

I don't think technology is always right, and this is certainly one of those calls which are hard to decide.

But the goal stood, and Japan was ahead. 

It was here that Luis Enrique's reply appeared weak. Japan, as was to be expected, stood back and fought hard. But Spain continued passing the ball, relatively slow and without the quick explosions that are often necessary to open a defense. This was surely disappointing because Spain have some fantastic players, but appears to lack explosion and creativity when it comes to come back against a team they should defeat.

Japan will face Croatia in a match that could go to both sides, while Spain will face Morocco in a match where Spain has to be much better than they were today.